Sound Shore

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

Westchester County Board of Legislators endorsements: Districts 9, 13, 14, 15
We offered endorsements for candidates seeking seats on the Westchester County Board of Legislators:
District 9: Catherine Borgia, a Democrat
District 13: Lyndon Williams, a Democrat
District 14: Bernice Spreckman, a Republican
District 15: Gordon Burrows, a Republican

Here’s a digest of opinion content we published over the weekend:

Saturday, Oct. 29
Iran and Iraq: Commentaries
We ran a pair of commentary pieces addressing the American withdrawal from Iraq and the implications of an increasingly powerful Iran:
Withdrawal means a victor for Iran: Commentary, Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan
Ending an unnecessary war is cause for rejoicing: Commentary, Bob Ray Sanders

Sunday, October 30
Rockland County Legislature endorsements: Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8
We offered endorsement of candidates seeking Rockland County Legislature seats:
District 1: Michael Diederich, a Democrat
District 2: Michael Grant, a Democrat
District 3: Jay Hood Jr., a Democrat
District 4: Ilan Schoenberger, a Democrat
District 8: Denet Alexandre, a Republican

Westchester County Board of Legislators endorsements: Districts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 17
We offered endorsements of candidates seeking Westchester County Board of Legislators seats:
District 1: John Testa, a Republican
District 2: Peter Harckham, a Democrat
District 3: John Nonna, a Democrat
District 5: William Ryan, a Democrat
District 17: Virginia Perez, a Democrat

Tappan Zee Bridge: Baird
Bob Baird assesses the potential infrastructure losses for Rockland County in the new plans to replace the Tappan Zee bridge.

Monday, Oct. 31
Immigrants and the GOP: Commentary
Justin Akers Chacon, a professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies in San Diego, comments on the Republican presidential candidates’ approach to immigration.

Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a digest of today’s opinion content:

PEF contract: Editorial
We comment on news that the Public Employees Federation, the second-largest union for state workers, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have reached tentative accord on a new contract. The union voted to rejected an earlier contract last month and faced approximately 3,500 layoffs; the new deal would avert that blood-letting. We write:

… Now it appears there’s hope of averting the mass layoffs — thanks to fruitful negotiations between union leaders and the Cuomo administration. A tentative accord on a new contract still must be approved by the 56,000-member PEF. Members rejected the earlier agreement 54 percent to 46 percent; the state’s largest public employee union, the 66,000-member Civil Service Employees Association, already OK’d a similar agreement.

The union said the new contract “better meets the needs of our members”; Gov. Cuomo said the agreement would remain “revenue neutral” and come at no additional cost to taxpayers. The new contact would be for four years instead of five, and includes reimbursements for nine furlough days instead of four; a $1,000 cash payment over two years was removed.

The concession-laden agreement reflects the kind of shared sacrifice that many public employee unions have made during this period of great economic upheaval, usually in exchange for protection against job cuts. …

Good Monday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published in the weekend editions of The Journal News:

Saturday, Oct. 15
Nov. 8 election: Commentary
Marianna Stout and Ina Aronow, officers of the League of Women Voters in Westchester County, offer tips for voters in advance of the Nov. 8 general election.

Sunday, Oct. 16
Tappan Zee Bridge: Editorial
We comment again on last week’s news that a replacement for the aging Tappan Zee Bridge had been fast-tracked by the Obama administration. Mass transit, we argue, must be a component in any new crossing. We write:

The Obama administration, looking to speed up job creation in this stalled recovery, has put plans for a new Tappan Zee crossing on the fast track; the Federal Highway Administration has taken over as lead agency for the project, and public briefings are already scheduled for next week. The new breakneck speed follows a decade during which planning and progress moved as slowly as Rockland-bound traffic on the Tappan Zee during the evening commute.

With the new developments, it is as if Robert Moses was being channeled by the White House. The project’s sudden rapid pace is reminiscent of the master builder behind the region’s highways, parkways, bridges, tunnels, playgrounds and parks. But another aspect of Moses looms large. The man called “the power broker” shoved through massive projects with little (or in spite of) public input, and all but ignored public transportation as he laid the groundwork for suburban sprawl.

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

Tappan Zee Bridge: Editorial
We comment on news that President Barack Obama has fast-tracked a replacement for the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. We write:

Fast-tracking the elaborate permit process for a new Tappan Zee Bridge is just one of a bucketful of initiatives being pushed by President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. It’s the brass ring, though, for the Lower Hudson Valley region.

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Adolfo Carrion, a former Bronx Borough President who now serves as director of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, talked Thursday with the Editorial Board about Westchester County’s affordable housing settlement.

Here’s a clip of the interview:

To watch the session in its entirety, go to lohud.com/editorialspotlight

Adolfo Carrion, the federal Housing and Urban Development Department’s regional director for New York and New Jersey, appears in an Editorial Spotlight interview at 11 a.m. today to answer your questions and our editors’ about the fair-housing settlement in Westchester.

To watch live, go to http://LoHud.com/editorialspotlight.

To ask a question, engage the Cover It Live feature.

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

Occupy Wall Street: Editorial
We comment on the weeks-long demonstration in Manhattan’s financial district; the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to other American cities. We encourage protesters to make their voices heard by voting. We write:

… What the Occupy protesters — in New York, Chicago, Miami and beyond — aim to achieve is not abundantly clear. Participants take pride in being a rudderless movement, one that is without structure, leadership or clear demands. This from the “Occupy Wall Street FAQs,” in reply to a question about what protesters want: “Ugh — the zillion-dollar question. Again, the original Adbusters [a group that helped start the protest] … asked, ‘What is our one demand?’ Technically, there isn’t one yet … Instead, to begin with, they opted to make their demand the occupation itself — and the direct democracy taking place there — which in turn may or may not come up with some specific demand.”

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The Journal News/LoHud.com Editorial Board holds endorsement interviews with candidates in key contests on the Nov. 8 ballot. Voters may watch LIVE online at www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight; questions can be submitted via our CoverItLive live-blogging feature.

The following endorsement hearings are scheduled:
Oct. 4: 1 p.m. Stony Point supervisor
Oct. 4: 3 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8
Oct. 5: 1 p.m. Putnam County executive
Oct. 5: 3 p.m. New Rochelle mayor
Oct. 11: 1 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 9, 10 and 11
Oct. 11: 3 p.m. Rockland Legislature, Districts 13, 14, 16 and 17
Oct. 12: 1 p.m. Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 1, 2 and 3
Oct. 12: 3 p.m. Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 4, 5, 6 and 7
Oct. 18: 1 p.m. Clarkstown supervisor
Oct. 18: 3 p.m. Orangetown supervisor
Oct. 19: 1 p.m., Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 9, 10, 12 and 13
Oct. 19: 3 p.m., Westchester Board of Legislators, Districts 14, 15 and 17
Oct. 25: 1 p.m. Rockland County Sheriff
Oct. 25: 3 p.m. Ramapo supervisor
Oct. 26: 1 p.m. Yonkers mayor
Oct. 26: 3 p.m. Mount Vernon mayor

Interviews for Westchester and Putnam candidates take place in our White Plains office, 1 Gannett Drive. Interviews for Rockland candidates take place in our West Nyack office, 1 Crosfield Ave. Candidates needing more information can contact Nancy Cutler at ncutler@lohud.com or 845-578-2403.

Voters guide
The 2011 local elections determine who represents you on the county, town and village level. Visit www.lohud.com/candidates to find out who’s running, and where the candidates stand on the issues.

Calling all candidates
The Journal News and LoHud.com wish to hear from candidates vying in local Westchester, Rockland and Putnam elections.

Please send us an email including your full name, home address, daytime phone number and an active email address to elections@lohud.com. In both the subject line and body of the email, be sure to indicate which office you are vying for. The information will be used by our news and opinion staffs to contact and correspond with candidates. Additionally, the email address will be used to send candidates a questionnaire that will form the basis of an online guide for voters.

Here’s a look at opinion content published over the weekend in The Journal News:

Saturday, Sept. 24
Troy Davis: Commentary
Alice T. Crowe, a Nyack attorney and playwright, offers a Community View on Troy Davis, the African-American man put to death last week in Georgia for the 1989 murder of white Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Crowe argues against the death penalty.

Sunday, Sept. 25
Infrastructure repair: Editorial
We comment on a report that 45 percent of Westchester County’s bridges are “functionally obsolete,” according to the state Department of Transportation. The figures are similar in Rockland and Putnam Counties. We argue in favor of President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act, which would fund badly needed infrastructure repairs. We write:

… Of course, many commuters travel great distances, and from state to state, so they experience the breadth of the region’s infrastructure woes, from rundown bridges to overmatched wastewater treatment facilities and broke water mains. The state Comptroller’s Office, looking at long-range maintenance needs for bridges, sewers and water systems, estimates that New York needs to spend $250 billion over the next 20 years; about $80 billion of that is unfunded. “The central theme is that we have immense infrastructure needs and very limited resources to tend to those needs, and that presents some significant challenges,” Deputy State Comptroller Tom Nitido told The Journal News and LoHud.com.

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