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MJ Gallery

So it begins . . .

 

Spot says, "This is an antharia plant, but how fitting."

Yes, Reading!

It's a cool little reading series happening every other week at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany). Tonight, the featured poets are Albanians James Belflower and Anna Eyre. 7 PM.

Selling papers

I wonder if the Times Union realizes that it is being sensationalist and irresponsible when it publishes shit like this?

Schenectady police seemed sure they had their man Wednesday. They had detained a suspect after an attempted abduction report in a community on high alert . . . In the end, the local man in custody turned out to be the child's grandfather, police said.

But the false alarm underscores the balance authorities must strike in ensuring the safety of children without encroaching on the rights of people going about their daily business, which may include interaction with unruly youngsters. The local angst follows a national outcry over the arrest in August of a California couple accused of the horrific kidnapping and rape of a young girl. Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted in 1991 when she was 11 and held captive for more than 18 years.

Come to Troy, get mugged?

Downtown Troy has been overrun this summer and now fall with a series of muggings--some at gun point, some during daytime hours, almost all of them, allegedly, at the hands of teenagers. Troy PD caught four kids in an undercover operation last week and two of the alleged would-be muggers were 13 years old.

Three days ago, two women were robbed near Russell Sage. Today, RPI sent out the below crime alert. I have lived in Troy for nearly a decade now, and I don't remember a time when downtown seemed this dangerous. People are getting skittish and some have started a neighborhood group. Others are weighing the benefits and risks of living in downtown.

The Tutunjian administration has devoted so much of its effort into making downtown attractive to the affluent, and now, instead, it is attractive to the muggers. 

On Monday October 5, 2009 at approximately 4:50pm on the 8th Street Approach staircase, a male Rensselaer student was approached from behind by two suspects.  One of the suspects struck the victim in the head with his fist.  The other suspect took victim’s cell phone and IPod.  Both suspects fled south on foot.  No weapons were displayed or threatened. 

Surprise: Ellis' campaign is still alive

Just as Councilman Dominick Calsolaro predicted in this week's issue, the campaign for Corey Ellis has finally come back to life today in order to issue a round of press releases criticizing Mayor Jerry Jennings' 2010 budget.

The new budget proposes $2.3 million in additional spending over last year. Ellis maintains that this is unacceptable and the city needs to redo the budget, keeping in mind the economic realities.  We must reduce spending and eliminate the residential tax hike, Ellis said. "The mayor's claim that he has made 'incremental cuts to all departmental budgets' is simply untrue; twenty-six of the departmental budgets have proposed increases for 2010."

Ellis pointed out that the largest "cut" in a departmental budget was $475,000 in the Central Garage budget for gasoline. However, this was not a budget cut but simply reflects the fact that gas is much cheaper than it was last year.

Ellis explained that many departments simply did not cut any spending, such as Department 5010 (Maintenance of Streets) and Department 1490 (Parks Maintenance). There are no cuts to any line items in either of these departmental budgets.