Star-Gazette questionnaire

 

My former employer, the Star-Gazette, sent me a questionnaire, which was published this week. 

Here are my responses.

First, some biographical information: 

What is your current age? 

61

Hometown? 

Horseheads

Your professional background? 

Twenty-five years in journalism as reporter, copy editor, and journalism professor. I’ve written for the Asbury Park Press, The Indianapolis Star, the Star-Gazette and the Los Angeles Times. After my journalism career ended, I became an entrepreneur and started a business – MetaDreams Games – creating games and laser-cut art. I also work as part-time Makerspace Coordinator for Incubatorworks, the non-profit agency that helped me start my business. 

Any community organizations you are involved in? 

• Former volunteer with the Boy Scouts, as a Den Leader, Troop Committee chair and served on Indian Waters District Committee and the Five Rivers Council Media Committee.
• Project director on canine distemper for Kind Hearts in Action, a 501c3 nonprofit.
• Volunteer with the Food Bank of the Southern Tier CCC pantry in Elmira. 

Please include a high-resolution preferred photo with your responses.

 

Now some questions about your race:

• Whether you are an incumbent or a new candidate, explain why you are running for a seat on the Chemung County Legislature.

The public should know what the government is going to do before it does it. Communication is the key skill for a legislator because the job depends on maintaining the conversation between the residents and their government for whatever issue is at hand. For a democracy to function, the residents need to be involved and their representatives need to be there for them. Not everyone can get to the meetings, be a volunteer or run for office, but when they have a question or a request of their government, they should get an answer. I get why many people are fed up with politics today, so they don’t engage, but when people don’t pay attention to the government, we end up with a bad government. I’m running to ensure that we have better government.

• What do you see as the biggest issues facing your district? What are you hearing from residents as you campaign?

What I’m hearing:

• It is difficult to get around this county via public transportation
• Seniors are finding it more costly to get the services they need and their opportunities of reaching those services are dwindling
• Many are losing / worried about losing health care and benefits like SNAP. 
• We need more grocery stores. (Two TOPS have been lost in recent years.) 
• Many are outraged about the cost of their NYSEG bill, which is not something the county controls but I think we can empower people by helping them understand their bills.
• Even if they live in Horseheads, they would like to see Elmira overcome its many problems so that it could be a better place to work and visit. 
• More, higher paying jobs are needed.
• Many will say it’s a beautiful county and they are glad to be here.

Some of these issues are beyond what a county legislator can affect, but we need to know what everyone is up against. 

• Beyond your district, what do you see as the most important issues facing the county as a whole?

The fortunes of Chemung County rise and fall with Elmira. We need to help the city reinvent itself and make it a destination for tourists and more companies that will hire locally. This will not be easy. Homelessness, crime, abandoned properties are all issues the city struggles with. The county and the city need to work together to solve them. There used to be a joint committee between the city and the county, and I think we need to bring it back so that we can work on these problems together. For one thing, we could do a better job of sharing services, eliminating redundancies to lower the overall costs of government services.

Helping Elmira will help the rest of us, bringing in more business, jobs and homeowners into the county. We should not just focus on large employers. If we can help more people start their own small business, and help existing small businesses survive and thrive, it could take us a long way towards recovery. The advantage is the new small businesses will have been started by people who already live here, love the area and are not likely to move away in search of a better deal. 

• The county’s current sales tax distribution agreement with its municipalities expires at the end of this year. Would you like to see something similar implemented, or if not, what would you like to see replace it?

Again, this is tied to the relationship between the city and county and the need for shared services. Years ago, the county cut back the percentage of sales tax it sent the city as part of a plan to share public works services. Last year, the county executive attempted to terminate the public works shared services plan, but the county legislature voted to extend it to avoid putting the city under additional financial strain. 

The end of the year is coming up quickly. So, the county needs to figure this out soon, and so far the legislature does not have projections on sales tax and has not heard any proposal as to what the sales tax distribution could be next year. All municipalities need this information to plan their budgets. With time running out,  perhaps the county should just keep the current distribution for one year. This keeps the rates based on the population of Elmira and the assessments of property values in the towns and villages. Then, let's create a city-county committee to have a full discussion about how to share services vs. share sales tax and also have a wider conversation with all municipalities about the fair distribution of sales tax. 

• Any other changes you would like to see in the way Chemung County does business?

We got through the Covid-19 pandemic, but what did we learn? Are we ready for the next crisis, which could be another pandemic, natural disaster, economic collapse or something we can’t imagine? 

The county should take this up as a long-term study. Look back at the pandemic. Figure out what went wrong and how to minimize those mistakes. Figure out what went right and how to capitalize on those opportunities. 

The lives saved and lives lost is part of that, but we should also know better what happened to businesses and employment. It seems obvious to me that larger businesses mostly survived, but many small businesses closed and never came back. 

Fixing that, and being ready for the next crisis, will take creativity, cooperation and compassion.

During the pandemic, I saw some examples of bigger businesses sharing space with smaller businesses that had been forced to close because of social distancing requirements. Perhaps we could come up with a way to pre-plan that kind of cooperation. 

This is something that especially needs to be done at the local level. During a crisis, directives get imposed from the federal and state government to carry out orders without exception. The local governments and community organizations are the ones who need to look at the situation and find ways we can help each other. 

Democratic Fundraiser speech

Here's the first draft of my speech for the Chemung Democrats fundraiser. Some of this was trimmed out for time constraints.

I’m Ed Bond, running for Chemung County Legislature in the 5th District. That’s in Horseheads from about Watkins Road out to Breesport, down to the area around Lattabrook Road and also that part of Veteran called Sullivanville.

To be clear, I stand for:

• Open government and fiscal transparency
• Upholding the U.S. Constitution
• Dignity and respect for all residents of Chemung County

Ten years ago, a massive shift happened in politics that caught many off guard. It happened in part because of that last bit, dignity and respect. People thought they weren’t being listened to. They thought they weren’t going to matter. They looked at the political arguments that were only “never this candidate” or “never that candidate.”

Politics was all about what to be against, not what to be for. And many voters just sat home. So, beyond the choice of who got elected, what really saddened me was the low voter turnout numbers. Democracy was in trouble. And the best way to save democracy is to use it.

 
So here I am, using democracy, as a candidate for office.

 
In my door-knocking, I have met registered Democrats who said that they are Republicans, and I have met Republicans who want to see Democrats win. And I have met plenty of independents who just want to know that we will work on the problems that affect their lives. The message is that you can’t take anyone for granted. Everyone needs to be listened to.

When you listen, you find out that it is getting more costly and more difficult for seniors to get the services they need. You find out it can be difficult to get around this county on public transportation. You hear about the frequent power outages in parts of this county. People are worried about losing health insurance, SNAP benefits and whether they are being tracked by AI on flock cameras. We worry about the future of Elmira and whether we can bring good-paying jobs to this county.

 
I don’t make promises I can’t keep, but I will tell you what I can do. I’m a former newspaper reporter, so that affects my skill set. The residents of this county should know what the government does to you and for you. You should know what the government is going to do before it does it.

 
We’d like to bring in more jobs, sure. But how about we create jobs here, for ourselves? For example, I started a small business with the help of an agency called Incubatorworks. You should check them out. But what I realized is that we should be helping more people pursue their dreams, open a small business, generate income, hire a handful of people. That may not sound like a lot, but it adds up. By coincidence, one of the doors I knocked out in my district belonged to the chair of the International Council for Small Business who told me it’s really those small businesses of 1 to 10 employees that really make a long-lasting impact. So, let’s get more of those started and let’s make sure the existing small businesses survive and thrive.

 
It is also very important for your elected officials to put aside party labels and work together to solve problems, improve the lives of county residents. They just want to know how we are making their lives better. One way of doing that is to put money into the pockets of people who live on a budget. That helps all of us.

So, if we have learned our lessons from the past ten years, we should be doing a better job of listening to people, making sure they know they are heard, pursuing policies that make their lives better and hopefully making sure they know what we’ve done. If the Democrats are doing that well, we may see a Blue Wave.

But understand what that Blue Wave is. It is made up of people, not money. It is especially made up of the volunteers who have stepped up this year. They have helped by going door-to-door with me or with their families. They have made phone calls. They have hand-written more than 1200 post cards for my campaign. They’ve helped get signs in yards. A wave is momentum through the water, and thanks to the volunteers, I can feel that momentum at my back. So thank you all.

Transportation issues in Chemung County

Yet again, yesterday I spoke with a resident who told me how difficult it is to live in Chemung County if you don't have a car or can't drive yourself. The issue came up a few weeks ago when the county announced the new FQHC -- federally qualified health center -- in Elmira. The center offers health care to any Chemung County resident no matter their health insurance or even if they had no health insurance.

This is a good thing, but the question was asked. How do we get there? Not everyone has means, and the public transportation has been inadequate to get everyone where they need to.

The issue came up again when I visited an elderly lady in my district who told me about how difficult it is getting for her to get the services she needs. The rising costs on a fixed income is part of it, but actually getting to medical appointments and other services is a whole other battle.

Then yesterday, another lady in Horseheads told me she can't drive because of her medical condition. So, she has to work from home. However when she needs to go into Elmira, getting to public transportation and using it is a struggle. Some who use public transportation have to ride the entire bus route the round-about way just to get where they need to. Some have great difficulty getting to work on time with the available bus routes. 

As much as I love Horseheads, I have noticed that it is not an easy place to get around without a car. It is not built for walking. It doesn't always look like the safest place to ride a bike either. 

What we have is a small rural county with a central city. People out in the country do need to get into Elmira to get the services and opportunities they need, and we need to think about how they can do that.

I told the lady yesterday, I can't make promises, but this is becoming a priority for me. I don't know the answer, but maybe we need some version of Zip Cars to come to the area. Zip Cars, available in big cities, can be borrowed short-term for a fee, but it may not be feasible for that company to come here. Chemung County and Elmira does not have the resources of big cities, so we need to put our heads together and figure out some other way to make transportation better for everyone. 

The first step would be to get some facts. We at least need a survey to find out:

• How many people need public transportation
• Where they live
• Where they need to go

Are we ready for another crisis?

First off, don't panic.

Right now, the fatal case of pneumonic plague reported in Russia does not appear to pose a further serious threat. 

So far ... 

[unless we don't have the full story.]

This appears to be a single event of a disease caused by a very dangerous air-born bacteria, but the patient can be saved if treatment with strong antibiotics begins early enough. 

It is not a virus, which is good news. Bacteria are complete, living cells and relatively easy to kill with antibiotics. However, some are harder than others. 

Viruses have been much more difficult to defeat because they are merely tiny packets of genetic material wrapped up in an envelope of fats or proteins just waiting around for a living body to attack. They are not technically alive, but they are programmed to invade our cells, take them over and make us sick. Antibiotics do nothing against viruses. We need vaccines to protect ourselves from viruses like COVID-19.

Yes, I support vaccines because they have saved so many lives. And I have no problem with people who do their own research, so long as that research also includes a honest and open conversation with your doctor. It also wouldn't hurt to look up the story of Edward Jenner and how his vaccine helped eradicate small pox from the world. But vaccines aren't what I wanted to talk about here.

The plague case in Russia has reminded many of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were all caught off guard. March 13, 2020 was the day I remember the whole world changing. People died.  Businesses were shut down. Many never reopened.

If you are reading this today, you, like me, survived. We got through it. My deepest sympathies to those of you who lost a close relative, friend or loved one. 

But what did we learn? Are we ready for the next crisis, either another pandemic or a natural disaster or something else we can't even imagine? 

One lesson: Large businesses and corporations survived and many small businesses did not. 

Fixing that, and being ready for the next one, will take creativity, cooperation and compassion.

If one business must close because it does not have enough space, can it reopen by sharing space with someone else? I saw examples of that during the pandemic, but we could make that a more consistent and reliable system. 

The county should take this up as a long-term study. Look back at the pandemic. Figure out what went wrong and how to minimize those mistakes. Figure out what went right and how to capitalize on those opportunities. 

This is something that especially needs to be done at the local level. During a crisis, directives get imposed from the federal and state government to carry out orders without exception. The local governments and community organizations are the ones who need to look at the situation and find ways we can help each other. 

Opposing artificial intelligence and data centers

"The true purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill without allowing skill to access wealth." -- quote from Reddit.

Why should I support data centers for artificial intelligence?

To steal the intellectual property of my fellow writers, artists and other creators?

To snatch job opportunities from recent college graduates searching for entry-level jobs in their chosen profession?

To watch as the technology industry shifts to focus on manufacturing AI chips rather than on the standard type of chips used by us ordinary humans?

To use up our resources, put a drain on our electrical grid and drive people out of their homes through eminent domain?

To give AI the power it needs to break out of its controls and threaten humanity?

Building data centers may create jobs, but artificial intelligence has already destroyed the livelihood of so many professionals. 

It gets worse.

From the recent news and the summit on AI held at the White House with the heads of the AI industry, where Trump announced the technology could simply be self-policed, a few points:

• This small group of tech heads are making all the decisions for us.

• They are not worried about destroying jobs because they promise a utopia of abundance where everyone will get a universal high income. (Don't trust that.)

• The next generation of AI is expected to be much smarter, much harder to control and they do not know how they will be able to retain human control over this technology.

So, for us, we may fret and worry about whether a data center could come to our area. I am glad of the current moratorium on data centers in New York. It gives us time to understand the environmental impacts and make a choice as a community as to whether we would want to have a data center here. 

In Pennsylvania, Gov Josh Shapiro set rules for data centers earlier this year. This required local approval and the hiring of local workers. It also required the data centers to pay all the costs for the extra water, electricity and resources. 

This seemed like a reasonable step to give the people a say. 

But now, the technology is advancing so quickly and without real controls, I fear that we have already lost our chance to apply the brakes. 

We ordinary humans have begun to notice the impact on our lives and the resistance to AI and data centers has been growing, but too slowly.

As with all issues, community discussion and public education is usually the best remedy. But by the time we talk and educate ourselves, AI will leap ahead to create dangers we can't even imagine.

What I would like to see:

• Immediate freeze on any development of a next generation of AI.

• Controls put on current AI programs that limit their abilities. 

There have been useful applications of AI. In the medical field, AI has helped tremendously in diagnosis and in note-taking and paperwork for doctors. So, we can keep the elements of it that have been beneficial. You can still use it to make memes and videos -- so long as the AI use is clearly labelled up front. But the advancement of AI needs to be hobbled before it's too late. 

Jon Stewart gave us an excellent overview last night.

I'm a writer, and I would say I am striving to be a self-taught artist. In my laser-cutting and game business, I use only my own original designs. Meanwhile, I practice sketching and drawing to get better. I worked hard to get as far as I have, and although my drawings are not perfect, I know they are made by a human. So here are a couple of my practice sketches, which do not use AI.

WSKG on housing and homelessness

 

WSKG: How would you address housing demand vs. supply in Chemung County and Legislative District 5? What are ways the state and county can serve vulnerable populations affected by homelessness and unscrupulous landlords?

A: I would like to see Elmira without a homeless problem, but passing laws against being homeless does not solve the problem. If homelessness is to be resolved, it will require everybody working together, in the same direction to deal with the wide variety of causes. Providing shelter is only one piece of the puzzle. Mental health, addiction, the costs of health care and a lack of opportunities are other factors. In some cases, the person being helped may not be ready to be in housing. They need to learn the skills and outlook that will keep them sheltered. Some cases will be more intractable than others. We may not be able to save everyone, but we will save more if we try. As a journalist, I have interviewed many homeless/former homeless and lived on the streets to see what it was like. Some observations:

• Many homeless try their best to not be noticed. For example, they live out of their car in a parking lot, moving along before drawing attention to themselves, dressing as well as possible so that they don’t look unsheltered. The problem may be bigger than you can imagine.

• They may have a car, even a nice-looking car, but it is their last possession and you cannot judge their situation based on how good the car looks. 

• Many people may be only a paycheck or a health or financial crisis away from becoming homeless. I am glad that Chemung County has a program to help people before they become homeless. 

As to unscrupulous landlords, I think that absentee landlords are a big part of the problem, and local ordinances requiring them or a representative to be onsite would help. But that may be something handled at the city or town level. 

Ultimately, turning around the county’s financial struggles and creating jobs would be the answer. So, all of these issues are tied together. The solutions will not be easy. Elmira and Chemung County need to do what many people have had to do to survive. That is to reinvent themselves, find new strengths and create new opportunities.

Solar project issue

A resident handed me this flyer while I was door-knocking in the Birdland neighborhood of Horseheads yesterday. This is not before the Chemung County Legislature, but what I keep telling residents is that you should know what the government is going to do before it does it. So, I am sharing this here. 

This group is raising serious concerns to the Town of Veteran Planning Board and offering reasonable solutions. I have not had a chance to do a deep dive into this, but so far the facts check out. I think the residents should know about this issue. 

I support solar power, and we have solar panels for our house. In general, solar power is safe and has become more and more affordable. But any company building a project of this type needs to account for the environmental impact. The residents are not saying "No" to solar power. They are saying the installation of the panels in this location could damage the aquifer supplying household wells and create a dangerous water runoff into their neighborhood. Reasonable measures to protect the surrounding neighborhoods must be followed. 

Here's the link to the solar power project application:

https://townofveteranny.gov/active-applications/

The text of the handout follows below. I added some links to relevant news stories. 

----------------------------------------------------

A PACK THE TOWN HALL: STOP THE VETERAN HILL SOLAR PROJECT VARIANCE!

MEETING DETAILS: Monday, October 5th at 6:30 PM

LOCATION: Veteran Town Hall (4049 Watkins Road, Millport, NY 14864)

Dynamic Energy LLC (operating as Wedge Solar, LLC) is proposing a 30-acre commercial solar project directly above our neighborhood on Veteran Hill (Tax Map IDs 39.00-1-14.1 and 39.00-1-14.2). They are petitioning the Planning Board for a financial variance to bypass Local Law #1 of 2026 so they can avoid setting up the mandated 100% liquid cash escrow account for cleaning up the site. They are pushing this through fast, so we must speak up now or accept the consequences.

If you cannot attend the meeting in person, you must voice your opposition by immediately emailing the Planning Board Chairman, Dave Adams, at:

planning.board.chair@townofveteranny.gov

THE IMPACT ZONE: OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

* Extreme Topography: The project sits at an elevation of 1,350 feet a massive 450-foot vertical drop directly above our homes on Meadowlark Road, Robin Rd, Redwing, Whippoorwill, Bluejay Drive, and Oriole Drive.

* The Runoff Funnel: Stripping this steep 15% to 18% slope turns the hillside into a high-velocity stormwater funnel. Impermeable solar panels act like massive metal roofs, dumping millions of gallons of unmitigated runoff directly onto our downslope properties.

* To help understand the size of this project please note that our entire neighborhood is about 30 acres.

THE DEVELOPER'S TRACK RECORD: THE WILLIAMSBURG DISASTER

* The Precedent: In Williamsburg, Massachusetts, developer Dynamic Energy Solutions LLC built a solar array on a steep hillside after falsely telling local boards it would not increase pollution.

* The Fall-Out: Once approved, they ignored stormwater rules. The hillside completely blew out, uprooting trees, burying protected wetlands under an acre of thick mud, and destroying a local river fishery.

* The Penalty: State environmental officials designated their actions as "egregious," and the state Attorney General forced Dynamic Energy to pay a $1.14 million federal settlement for environmental devastation.

https://gazettenet.com/2021/02/01/developer-to-pay-1-14-million-for-wetlands-stormwater-violations-38651958/

PROOF OF DAMAGE: PROPERTY & FOUNDATIONS

* The Plainville, MA Precedent: A near-identical uphill solar project in Plainville, Massachusetts, completely ruined downslope properties. Uphill clearing sent water gushing into naturally dry basements, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in uninsurable structural damage.

[Different company handled that project. Here are news stories: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/plainville-solar-farm-development-flooding/

https://turnto10.com/news/local/plainville-residents-plagued-by-flooding-blame-neighboring-solar-project-southern-new-england-massachusetts-homes-water-damage-weather-january-29-2024]

 * Hydrostatic Pressure: Most of our homes have naturally dry basements and no sump pumps. A suddenly rising water table will create massive underground pressure, cracking concrete foundations and flooding our homes.

THE THREAT TO OUR PRIVATE WELL WATER

* Aquifer Puncture Risk: Our neighborhood relies 100% on private wells. During construction of the Horseshoe Solar project in Rush, NY, crews driving heavy steel piles accidentally punctured an aquifer, cutting off residential water supply for weeks, causing permanent damage.

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/documents-aquifer-rupture-at-horseshoe-solar-floods-farm-fields-prompts-emergency-fix-along-genesee-river/

* The Illusion of "UL Approval": The developer claims their hardware is safe because it is "UL listed." A UL rating only proves fire safety in a laboratory. It does not stop toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium, or gallium from leaching into our groundwater if panels shatter during harsh winter freeze-thaw cycles.

WHY SURETY BONDS ARE A FINANCIAL TRAP

* Bonds Are Not Cash: Dynamic Energy wants to use a corporate surety bond instead of a town-held cash escrow. If their shell company goes bankrupt, insurance companies will spend years fighting our town in court to avoid paying out.

* Taxpayer Liability: With a ~90% pre-construction attrition and resale rate for New York solar projects, a cash escrow is the only guarantee that taxpayers won't be stuck with a multi-million dollar cleanup bill when the developer walks away.

WHAT WE MUST DEMAND ON OCTOBER 5th to protect us and our private wells:

1. DENY THE VARIANCE: Force strict adherence to Local Law #1 of 2026. Demand a 100% liquid cash escrow.

2. WELL & FOUNDATION ESCROW: Mandate a developer-funded, town-held cash fund to instantly pay for repairs if a well goes dry or a basement floods.

3. HYDROGEOLOGICAL STUDY: Force a complete mapping of our aquifer before any piles are driven.

4. INDEPENDENT ENGINEERING: Require a developer-funded, town-appointed independent engineer with full stop-work authority on-site daily.

PROTECT HORSEHEADS-PROTECT VETERAN HILL. SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR NEIGHBORS!