Not only do the colleges “define the county” – they have an exclusive right to do so. There is not a single policy or government committee that does not strengthen their power and fill their coffers. It’s intellectual dishonesty at the service of a corporate agenda that defines the colleges; that define the county.
Tompkins County is a functional dictatorship — everyone agrees that there is no meaningful public participation in government. Therefore; the views and interests of those in charge become the rules for everyone. Everyone else, that is.
“The Will of the People is in probate.” . . . and the Legislators have appointed themselves Executors. In a county whose “vision for the future of the community is based on a set of principles that reflect the values of the community as expressed by the County Legislature” – there’s no doubt about where the “vision” and all the decisions are coming from.
“The politicians elect the voters.” It’s not such a reach as it seems – by controlling the community’s environment; politicians attract and select those who will fit into their template of society. Form Based Codes, lock-step bureaucracy, and intransigent, hand-picked policy making ensures that no opposition larger than an individual can be sustained.
“It’s a self-fulfilling sophistry.” In Tompkins County; every policy argument becomes true; because everything is controlled by the same people. It’s no surprise to residents that the fox not only guards the hen house; but also investigates the disappearances, and rules them to be “runaways.”
Tompkins County and Tammany Hall will examine the origins and credibility of the term “rural sprawl” and why it immediately replaced all mention of “urban sprawl” at every level of County planning and policy making — and its use in carving up rural towns for commercial exploitation.
The voters of Tompkins County have no say in the running of the county. Zoning Codes and decisions were based on the “visions” and “reimaginings” of Comprehensive Plans; themselves created without meaningful public participation or oversight.
This closed door decision making has been granted the respectability of legislation with Form Based Codes.
The defining characteristic of Form Based Codes is the power it gives government authorities to decide what people are allowed to do — and what they MUST do.
People can fight zoning decisions; but they can’t fight Form Based Codes. Fait accompli.
When a car chase/gun fight on one of the local roads caused a higher number of complaints than usual; the County made an announcement:
One: There are only a “few bad characters.” Two: Their department was too small. And Three: It would be too expensive for the County to do anything about it.
Just the sort of response you would expect from a County Sheriff’s Dept. that will only show up in rural areas when it’s called, write a report, and leave.
Tompkins County’s “Ag Ghetto” policies, like other ghettos in other places, is one of containment. It’s a tool that Urban Colonialism uses to marginalize the rural natives.
Another tool? High rural property taxes — my neighbor just received a 10% increase in his County assessment: it takes an important amount of money to serve the important areas of Tompkins County.
Nothing could be less characteristic of today’s social policy and its adherents than the advice contained in this phrase. Rather than trying to be a living example their claims, and abjuring bigoted and discriminatory actions; they insist their right [by virtue of their race, gender, ethnicity] to perform acts of bigotry and discrimination [by race, gender, and ethnicity] — thereby double dipping into the very evil that they tar their victims with; while hiding the hypocrisy of their own actions behind censored news, fiddled statistics, and a smokescreen of self-righteous anger and secrecy.
Some problems just don’t go away. Some systems don’t heal themselves after injury.
The TDML attitude says; “I can leave my car engine running because it’s more efficient”; but a more sensible attitude would be to make use of that efficiency to further reduce the carbon footprint.
The world may not return to its previous state; but it may recover more quickly. Or we could just wait . . . with the engine running.
How does Tompkins County save money? By denying public services to the county’s rural poor.
Public transportation is stopped miles away from those farthest from doctors, medication and groceries. And the drugs and crime that poverty produce are handled by a Sheriff’s department that only come when they’re called, write a report, and leave.
The County does maintain one presence; its Assessors are constantly raising rural valuations to enable higher taxes — and rural families living on roads named for them are forced to leave and make room for urban sprawl developments and corporate cronies.