analysis

A Guide for Zombie Hunters: How to Deal with these Vacant Properties (not flesh-eating deadwalkers)

I live next door to a zombie, and I worry that trouble is coming this summer. The zombie is a single family residence with three bedrooms and about 1,700 square feet of living space. The owner defaulted on the mortgage a couple years ago, and before he moved to Texas, he offered the house up […]

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First the Questionable Reduced Assessment, now an Illegal STAR EXEMPTION: Mayor Uses Influence over Assessor to Save Thousands in Local Taxes

On February 5, I published an article on the bridge explaining how Mayor Rich David quietly and questionably secured a nearly 30% reduction of his downtown property tax bill. Mayor Rich David is now saving thousands in local property taxes because, in 2018, the City Assessor—a position the Mayor oversees and appoints—used a questionable “informal

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Broome County is Killing Me

By Bill Martin It has become far too common: another person denied medical care at the Broome County Jail, and this time with gruesome and deadly consequences. Today’s epitaph is written for Rob Card, a local carpenter, artist, and family man who was sent to the jail for violating probation on a minor drug charge.

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Lawmakers Reintroduce the New York Health Act

Advocates Celebrate Inclusion of Long-Term Care and Support Services The bill is now amended to include long-term care and support services, making it the most comprehensive, progressive, state-level universal healthcare bill in the country Albany, NY—Advocates celebrated the reintroduction of the New York Health Act [A.5248, S.3577] yesterday, calling attention to its highly-anticipated revision to

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How I Found Out Mayor David Secretly Cut His Property Tax Bill by 27%

Having worked at City Hall for almost eight years prior to the current administration, I remain friends or friendly with dozens of city employees: in the Police and Fire Departments, over at the “Rock” (our endearing term for the DPW facility), in every division of Public Works, and in Planning and Development. Often, I receive

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If We Can Run, We Can Win

Public Financing of elections gives all of us a chance to run a competitive race for elected offices. The campaign to get there in New York is called Fair Elections. We have a chance this year but we all have to push to get this done. State Senate Speaker, Andrea Stewart Cousins has been a

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