Congratulations to the Democratic nominees!

It’s important that we have a good turnout in November, to ensure that a last minute write in campaign by the Republicans can not work.

I recorded the meeting.  I will soon have a link to the audio on my blogs at

http://trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com/ and

http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/

I had written more than I could read in my alloted time. Here it is in full,

There are several very important issues facing our Town and Village Boards in the months ahead. The threat of serious environmental damage and health risks from the hydrofracturing gas drillers is high on the list, and citizens have an opportunity today to vote for the candidates that they feel are best equipped and inclined to protect Ulysses from this exploitation.

The privatization of our EMS service is a more urgent issue though.  Chris Thomas is once again pushing the board toward hiring a third party billing company to send bills to every recipient of ambulatory care.  This was a big issue last year.  I was quite vocal in my opposition, and I was instrumental in bringing people to board meetings to voice their opposition.  As a result, the Village held a public forum in order to gather input from the community to guide their decision on wether or not to go to billing.  It was well attended and the guidance they were looking for was given very clearly.  More than twice as many people spoke against billing as spoke for it.  Of those speaking against billing, half were current or past members of the EMS or the Fire Department.  No volunteers spoke in favor of billing.

I have two questions for the Village Board members that favor billing.  What part of “NO” don’t you understand?  And. Will you be having another public forum before going to billing so that we can tell you to leave our ambulance service alone.

Legally, this decision is in the hands of the Village Board, but Chris Thomas has said repeatedly, that they would not proceed without the consent of the Town Board, so it is imperative that we elect a Town Board that will help us tell them to leave our ambulance service alone.

It is possible that the Village could move quickly to billing, possibly before a newly elected Town Board takes office, and possibly without a public forum.  Mayor Petrovic could stop this, and I urge you to talk to him.

So why am I so adamantly opposed to billing? A whole host of reasons. But mainly, I am afraid that if we go to billing, someone, someday soon, is going to not call 911 when they should call 911, because of a fear of the cost, and they, or their loved one, is going to die.  Some will say that I am being hyperbolic, but I listened carefully to the volunteers that spoke at the public forum, and this is a very real possibility.( I recorded the forum.  You can listen to it at my blog at trumansburg ambulance funding.blogspotcom.) I realize that our EMS is part of a system that includes the 911 operators and the dispatchers, and the hospitals, and we cannot tell citizens that all of it is free, but we do control wether or not our EMS will bill, and our EMS is likely to be the first contact that a citizen has with trained and equipped medical people in an emergency, and if they call for and accept the help, it could save lives, and that is why we formed the EMS 40 years ago.

Chris Thomas will tell you that he has learned of a municipality that is going to “insurance only billing” I asked him for the name of the municipality and the name of the billing company because this sounds interesting.  He refused to give me the information.  I filed a FOIA request at village hall, but have not gotten an answer.  Chris claims that contract negotiations are taking place and that is why I can’t have the information.  I’m a big fan of open government, and I don’t understand why I can’t talk to these people while contract negotiations are ongoing.  I suspect that what this is, is nothing new.  Chris used to talk of non aggressive billing.  This means that everybody would get a bill regardless of wether or not they were insured, but the village would not have to hound those who don’t have insurance and can’t afford to pay, but if someone refuses help for fear of a bill, it may do them no good from the grave to know that had they lived, the Village would not have pursued collection.

I feel that our current single payer, fully taxpayer supported, non billing, largely volunteer, EMS is a wonderful example of how our entire health care system should be, and I would hate to see it corrupted by entering into business with a private for profit billing company, and a private for profit, health insurance industry, not because there is anything wrong with profit in general, but because there is something very wrong with profit in  health insurance.  Many of our representatives in Washington are fighting for a nonprofit public option, we lost our strongest fighter last week when  Kennedy died.  Let’s not dishonor his memory by allowing the Village Board to privatize our EMS.  There is a bill in the Senate now that was written by Kennedy and  Dodd, that would offer a strong public option and a mandate to ensure universal coverage.  If this bill becomes law, this would impact our decisions here.  We know that law governing insurance and health care is very much in flux in our federal and state legislatures. This would be a crazy time to consider  going  to billing here. Lets let this play out.

About 18% of Ulysses, and the rest of the area served by our EMS, has no health insurance.  Some say that that many again are underinsured.  That’s 1500 to 3000 people of the roughly 8000 in the district.  These are the people that are most likely to fear the cost of help when they need it.  These are our friends and neighbors.  Are we willing to put them at risk to save a few tax dollars?

If we go to billing, we can shift some of the cost of our EMS, (which is rightfully our cost) off of our taxpayers, and onto society at large. When we bill insurance companies, we generate paperwork expenses, a cut for the billing company, and huge profits for insurance company CEO’s like David Hemsley of United Health, who has made 3/4s of a billion dollars in the last 5 years.  Some proponents of billing seem to think that these private insurers are getting a free ride, that’s it not fair, and that the solution is to bill them.  You don’t get it.  They want you to bill them.  They need you to bill them.  If nobody billed them they’d go out of business.  They need that bill, so that they can turn it around, add profit, and bill us back in the form of premiums.

There was a special Village Board meeting last Monday to discuss the “crisis” in funding the EMS.  There was a good deal of talk about what they were calling a “paradigm shift” away from volunteerism.  Apparently there has been a recent unwillingness among the EMS volunteers to sign up for shifts, and as a result, they have projected a 25% EMS budget increase for next year.  They suggest that the district will need to spend $425,000 next year.  $425,000 divided by the 8000 residents in the district = 53 dollars / resident / year.  This is not a crisis.  Let me tell you what a crisis is. The average family of four pays 13,000 dollars (including employer contribution) for health care today.  That is estimated to double to 26,000 in 7 to 8 years if current trends continue. That’s a crisis.  18,000 people die each year in this country because they had no health insurance. That’s a crisis. If the Village board starts EMS billing, they will be contributing to the insane escalation of that cost.  What we have right now requires the least possible amount of paperwork, and no bills to Medicare, or Medicaid, or private for profit companies.  No third party billing company needs to get a cut, and there is no profit involved.  It’s perfect.

I have good news.  I’ve researched this “paradigm shift”, away from volunteerism.  It doesn’t exist.  On April 21, this year, President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which reauthorizes and expands national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency created in 1993. They have a website Serve.gov.  You can search for volunteer opportunities, and apply for grants, and they have statistics that prove that volunteerism is increasing not decreasing.  In 2008 61 million americans volunteered 8 billion hours. Over the last year there has been a 31% increase in volunteers pitching in to fix a problem in their community.  There has been a 17% increase in the numbers attending community meetings (like this one here today) The FEMA website says that 87% of Fire Departments in this country are either fully or mostly volunteer.  I have volunteered quite a bit of my time in various ways in this community, as many of you have, but my efforts pale in comparison to the dedicated volunteers at our Fire Department and EMS.  They volunteer the most hours, at the toughest times, and put themselves at risk, in order to help us out in an emergency.  They are required to take many hours of training, and renew their certifications every 3 years. We stand to lose much more than just a few tax dollars, if we lose these volunteers.  Volunteerism fosters a commitment to helping eachother.  It makes us realize that we are all in this together, and that we are responsible for the well being of our neighbors and our environment.  It creates a spirit of cooperation that might even make it possible to find compromises that will be acceptable to those with differing ideologies. There are many ways to increase  volunteerism in our EMS.  If I were elected supervisor I would speak out about it in meetings and forums and schools and I would write about it in our papers and online.  I have been thinking about joining the EMS myself for awhile, but I don’t think I could if our leaders continued to talk about paradigm shifts and the inevitability of billing.  That’s a self fufilling prophecy.

Before I put my name forth as a candidate for supervisor, I tried to talk Roxanne Marino into doing so.  She had mentioned a year ago that she was considering it.  She finally came around late in the game last week and threw her hat in the ring.  I already have the nomination of the Tompkins County Green Party, and I will be on the ballot in November.  If Chris Thomas wins today I will be campaigning hard, and I need your help. Chris is hard working, and well organized, and  has done good work on the board, but I feel his position on this critical EMS issue is entirely wrong.  I don’t want to  split the progressive vote, so if you intended to vote for me, please don’t,  please vote for Roxanne Marino.  She has 4 years of experience on the board, and her knowledge of the issues is voluminous, she is completely ready to take the reins, and she and I are on the same page on this EMS issue.

Allen Carstensen

ps: If anyone agrees with me on this issue, it would be great if you could come to some Village and Town Board meetings and express yourselves.  I’m growing weary of the struggle.

Then, Thomas began to talk about his ideas for the town, including many that make most Democrats here uncomfortable: Privatizing Trumansburg’s ambulance service, to require residents to pay if they don’t have insurance coverage, pushing through another project akin to Water District 5, and describing rural broadband service as something unnecessary for Ulysses residents.

Apparently, these policy positions caused such concern that some Ulysses Democrats began looking for another alternative to Thomas. Roxanne Marino, who has a great deal of experience on the Town Board already, has stepped forward, and intends to seek the nomination at the Democratic caucus.

Carstensen has obtained the endorsement of the Tompkins County Green Party, and having successfully submitted the required number of petition signatures, will be on the ballot regardless of who the Democratic nominee is.

The Ulysses Democratic caucus will be held this coming Monday evening at the Trumansburg Firehouse, open to all registered Democrats in the town. People wishing to vote must sign in between 7:00 and 7:15 PM.

The committee heard from Kevin Romer and Roxanne Marino who are both interested in a spot on the Town Board.  That makes three Democratic candidates (including incumbent Lucia Tyler) vying for 2 Town Board spots, at the Democratic Caucus, on August 31st at 7pm at the Fire Hall. (please come)

The presentations by the candidates at the last two UDC meetings, if they were made available to the public, would be the only time before the caucus, that the public would hear from the folks that might make important decisions for the town for the next 4 years.  Since this is not allowed, the public won’t know that real differences exist, and are therefore less likely to attend the caucus, and without them, democracy suffers.

Allen Carstensen (that’s me) and Chris Thomas, will both ask for the Democratic nomination for Ulysses Town Supervisor, at the Caucus.  Lucia Tyler and I had already addressed the committee and explained why we wanted to serve, so we didn’t speak on Thursday.  Roxanne Marino spoke for a few minutes and it’s a shame I wasn’t allowed to record it.  Her knowledge of all the issues in front of the Town Board is voluminous, and she talks so fast, I’d have to listen to it 3 times for it to sink in.  Her energy and knowledge would be a real asset on the Board.

Chris Thomas spoke, and took questions.  He was asked if billing for ambulance services was still an issue.  He said yes, that it was.  He pointed out that the budget for the EMS for next year would have to be increased by 25% because of falling volunteerism, and the resultant increase in paid staff hours.  I remain completely opposed to billing.  There will be a meeting about the EMS budget at the Village Hall at 7pm tomorrow, Monday 8/24 (I think that’s what he said – it’s not on the online calendar, and I’m not allowed to record these meetings) I’ll be there, and I’ll be writing more about this soon.

Chris was asked if he was in favor of efforts to bring broadband internet service to more of rural Ulysses.  He said that he didn’t feel that highspeed internet was really necessary for most people.  I disagree.  I believe that access to information is critical if we are to have a well informed electorate.  If everyone streamed Youtube clips of Jon Stewart every night…..

Chris was asked what he felt should be done regarding water infrastructure.  He said that he favors laying pipe into the rural areas of Ulysses in a manner similar to WD5.  He said that there was a palpable lack of cooperation during the WD5 years, and that, had there been better cooperation, that a project could have been completed.  Some would call it palpable lack of cooperation.  I would call it Don Ellis, Roxanne Marrino, and Lucia Tyler, standing on principle, and not allowing Doug Austic and Rod Ferintino to push through a project that was unfair to many, and would have enriched some while putting the Town at risk of unwanted development (possibly including concentrated animal feeding operations) A committee recently completed a survey of the water needs of the town.  I look forward to working with members of that committee and the board, to determine the best way to improve access to clean safe water, to as many people as possible, with as few unwanted consequences as possible.

Chris was asked for his thoughts on gas drilling.  He said “I’m not inherently opposed to energy exploration but what I am absolutely opposed to, is the use of undisclosed chemicals in the hydrofracturing solutions”  Well, it seems that the exploration phase has been completed.  The next step is to extract the gas, and I am inherently opposed to the hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling process if it involves large quantities of poisons and carcinogens wether they are disclosed or not.  I have brought two resolutions to the Board, which, if passed into law, would deter these corporations from harming the health of our residents and decimating our environment.  I believe we have to use every tool available to protect  our Town, and if elected that is what I will urge the Board to do.

I have been nominated by the Tompkins County Green Party as their candidate for Ulysses Town Supervisor.  I have collected signatures that the Board of Elections requires, so I will be on the ballot on the Green Party line, on Nov. 3rd.  I registered as a Democrat in 1970 when I turned 18.  I voted for George McGovern in 1972.  What a different world it would be!  I have always been a Democrat, because I believe that within our current electoral system, the Democratic Party is our best hope, for progressive reform.  I have been a registered Democrat for 39 years.  Chris Thomas has been a registered Democrat for 3 years ( He was  a registered Libertarian prior to running on the Democratic Party line for Village Trustee)  The Caucus on 8/31 will be important in determining the future of the Democratic Party in Ulysses.  Please come.

Allen Carstensen

ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com

cell – 273-2186

whwoods@lightlink.com

Why would they do that? What was happening at that meeting that the Ulysses Democrats don’t want us to know about? What were they saying that they don’t want the rest of us to hear?

At the level of our town’s politics, is this kind of secrecy appropriate?

I wasn’t there. I’m in Maine. So, I’d love to hear a justification from a member of the Ulysses Democratic Committee for the destruction of the recording.

Anyone care to speak up?

That makes Carstensen the first endorsed candidate for Supervisor of Ulysses in 2009. The endorsement puts a wrinkle in the plans of the Ulysses Democrats and the Ulysses Republicans.

Chris Thomas, a Libertarian-turned-Democrat currently sitting on the Trumansburg Board of Trustees, announced his decision to seek the Democratic nomination for Supervisor a few weeks ago. However, local Republican elected officials have indicated the Republican intention to give Thomas the Republican endorsement as well. Chris Thomas gave some mixed signals, suggesting that he might accept that endorsement

Thus, it seemed that Ulysses voters were going to be robbed of the opportunity to select their own Supervisor yet again, with political party insiders coming to a cozy arrangement to avoid an electoral competition. Democracy returns to Ulysses with Carstensen’s success in seeking the support of the Greens.

The Ulysses Democrats and Republicans have yet to hold the caucuses that will officially select a candidate for Supervisor. Perhaps, yet again, the Democrats and Republicans will arrange to support the very same candidate. Perhaps Allen Carstensen’s Green campaign will force the Democrats and Republicans to actually compete against each other. The political situation is too fresh, and too unprecedented, for certain analysis.

What’s for sure, however, is that voters in Ulysses, many of whom are independents, will actually have the ability to choose their own Supervisor, instead of just depending upon the Democrats and Republicans to make an arrangement that’s suitable to them. That’s an important improvement in itself, for which we can all be thankful to Carstensen, whatever our political registration may be.

No, if you want a clue about the political goings-on with the Ulysses Town Board, you’ll have to go to a report recently assembled by Allen Carstensen. He provides the kind of information about what happens at board meetings that never makes it into the official minutes.

I’ll be discussing many of the items Carstensen has documented in the coming days, but for this evening, I want to focus on one of the most timely issues for our town: The arrival of natural gas drilling in Ulysses.

I’ll risk offending some here in Ulysses by stating that whether a person decides to allow natural gas drilling on their land indicates a great deal about how they feel about their neighbors and their community. The reason is hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the drilling technique that has to be used in the Marcellus Shale, the geological formation underneath our town from which natural gas companies hope to extract their product. Fracking requires the use of large amounts of ground water, taking that water, and mixing it with a secret group of chemicals. That mixture is then pumped into the ground. When the process is over, the drilling company removes as much of the fracking fluid as it can, and then has to dispose of the fluid as toxic waste.

Here’s what we learn from Allen Carstensen’s report: At the last Town Board meeting, Ulysses Supervisor Doug Austic admitted that he has signed a lease with a natural gas drilling company, allowing them to perform fracking on his property.

Connect the dots to an old story: Doug Austic spent much of this decade trying to push through approval for Water District 5, a plan to construct water pipes snaking across the countryside throughout Ulysses – and to Doug Austic’s own property.

At the time, Supervisor Austic said that he was promoting Water District 5, because he hated the idea that some landowners in Ulysses might have poor drinking water. However, Austic has personally agreed to take part in a drilling project that involves taking huge amounts of our Ulysses water, mixing it with a bunch of secret chemicals that make it into toxic waste, and pumping it back into the ground.

It’s hoped that this fracking fluid isn’t spilled, doesn’t leak into groundwater, and doesn’t cause problems in some other way. It’s hoped that the fracking process doesn’t cause earthquakes or lead a neighbor’s house to explode. But, hey, no one can say for sure what will happen. We’ll just cross our fingers. Maybe it will all turn out fine.

Property owners like Doug Austic may see some profit – or they may just see drilling company trucks running roughshod over their land without a penny of income. However, these property owners have neighbors who aren’t choosing to go along with the natural gas drilling plans. Those neighbors most certainly won’t be seeing any profit, but their homes and land will be put at risk.

So, it’s not very gentle of me to say this, but I don’t think it’s a very neighborly thing for someone to sign a for-profit lease to allow drilling companies to go prospecting for natural gas on one’s land, when the likely impacts on one’s neighbors are still unknown. For the Supervisor of our Town to engage in such behavior seems particularly disappointing, especially when that Supervisor has been pushing a gigantic water program his neighbors would pay for, which just so happens to lead straight to his own personal profit.

In Mr. Austic’s favor is the fact that he signed the drilling lease on his land 15 years ago, not as a part of the recent push for drilling here. Some will say that 15 years ago, the environmental impacts of natural gas drilling weren’t known. Isn’t that still a problem, though? Should we enter into any kind of radical exploitation of our properties before we understand what the impacts will be?

In his latest rather anti-progressive move, Representative Arcuri has signed a letter, along with 40 other “Blue Dog” (Republican-like) Democrats in the House of Representatives. In that letter, Arcuri threatens to vote against the Democrats health care reform.

Maybe I’m being presumptuous in thinking that the majority of people in the Town of Ulysses want health care reform. I don’t think so, though, given the New York Times – CBS News poll that finds that more than 70 percent of Americans want government-run health care reform and are willing to pay higher taxes in order to get it.

How about you? Are you okay with Mike Arcuri’s opposition to health care reform? Are you okay with the way he’s helping the Republicans agitate against health care reform?

If you’re a registered Democrat here in the town of Ulysses, how do you reconcile being a Democrat with your Democratic U.S. Representative aligning himself with a group of pro-Republican politicians?

Other town news this morning:

- There’s going to be a forum on the impact of natural gas drilling down at the Museum of the Earth. U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey will have a staff member taking part. Our own representative, Michael Arcuri, will not.

- The dropout rate at Trumansburg High School has risen over the last three years. Note to Trumansburg teenagers: There’s a recession on with crippling unemployment. Now is not the best time to go looking for a job that’s going to bring you anything more than a minimum wage lifestyle. School can feel like a drag. Flipping burgers is worse.

We have a good number of same-sex couples living here in the town of Ulysses. There’s a reason for that. These couples settle here because they recognize that our community is a relatively welcoming place. Their presence here is a compliment to the character of our town.

Our state Senator George Winner, however, is preparing to respond to that compliment with an insult. Senator Winner is preparing to vote to deprive same-sex couples of their right to equal protection under the law.

I’m heterosexual. I’ve got a wife and three great kids. It was pretty easy for me to make a family (once I convinced my wife that marrying me would be an okay idea). No one in the government tried to stop me from getting married, or told me that my wife and I weren’t the right kind of people for each other. Yet, that’s just what Senator George Winner is doing.

Senator Winner is taking the power in government that he has been granted, and he’s abusing it in order to interfere in the private lives of his constituents. He’s using the power of government to declare which couples are worthy of getting married, and which ones aren’t, based on his personal opinion.

Some people may try to confuse this issue by saying that it’s about religious liberty, but they’re just plain wrong. Nothing in the proposed state legislation would interfere with the choice of some churches to only marry heterosexual couples. I emphasize the word some, because the truth that opponents of marriage equality try to obscure is that many churches belong to religious traditions that believe in the sanctity of same-sex marriage.

My church, the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, is one of them. That church, along with another Unitarian Universalist church in Elmira, are also located within George Winner’s senate district. By opposing the marriage equality legislation that will probably be voted upon in the New York State Senate this month, George Winner is interfering with the First Amendment right of the members of these churches to exert their religious freedom through participation in rituals of same-sex marriage. Senator Winner is opposing religious liberty, not defending it.

George Winner also isn’t defending any families here in the 53rd district. He’s attacking the rights of families – including children. After all, marriage equality isn’t just an issue of the rights of the same-sex couples who live here in Trumansburg and Ulysses. Also at issue are the rights of the children that these couple are raising among us. These children are friends of children raised by heterosexual couples, but they don’t have the same protection of having parents who are able to become legally bonded through marriage. These children are made the victims of society’s prejudice against their parents. George Winner is stoking that prejudice.

Senator Winner has the freedom to hold whatever prejudices he chooses. He does not, however, have the right to deprive his constituents of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law, just because he doesn’t like them. At its base, the issue is really that simple: You don’t have to like same-sex couples, but you do have to honor their rights.

In the United States, we have a Constitution, and a system of laws based upon the ideal of equality and impartiality, for the purpose of ensuring that unpopular minorities are protected. It is true that the marriage equality legislation to be voted upon in the New York State Senate grants special rights to same-sex couples, but only to the extent that we are all granted rights that are special. Our American system of rights for all is unquestionably outstanding.

What it comes down to is that when we allow our friends and neighbors to be deprived of equal rights, we are all living inequality. The persistence of legally-sanctioned discrimination against same-sex couples is an attack against the system that protects the rights of us all. We all suffer when that system is weakened.

I love my country and its constitutional values too much to watch them erode under the force of petty prejudices. I respect my friends here in Trumansburg and Ulysses too much to stand by in silence while their equal status in our community is denied.

They are local. They make it a local issue for me.

Visit the following resources to get involved in the effort to get Senator George Winner to change his mind before the vote:

- Marriage NY
- Marriage Equality New York
- New York Marriage Equality News Blog

Yesterday, the Ulysses Democratic Committee sent a letter to our U.S. Representative, Michael Arcuri. On June 20th, Congressman Arcuri introduced a resolution to limit debate on this far-reaching law to just one hour, with less than ten minutes given for the law’s opponents to speak. Then, Arcuri voted for the FISA Amendments Act.

The Ulysses Democratic Committee’s letter reads,

Dear Michael Arcuri,

We, the Ulysses Democratic Committee, in the Town of Ulysses, County of Tompkins, State of New York, are very disappointed, in your vote for the FISA Amendments Act. While we were petitioning to get you on the ballot, you were working to undermine our Constitution, and give retroactive immunity to telecoms that are illegally spying on us. We hope you continue to support the Constitution and the voters in your district.

The Ulysses Democratic Committee also sent letters to senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Barack Obama has declared that he will vote for the FISA Amendments Act, even if amendments are not passed to improve the law. The committee’s letter to Obama reads,

Senator Obama,

We Democrats in the Town of Ulysses, County of Tompkins, the only county you carried in New York State in the primary election, are deeply disappointed over your support for the FISA Amendments Act. Senator Obama you have said that if elected you would investigate the crimes of the present administration. Passing the FISA Amendments Act would remove some of these crimes from consideration and further damage our rights as citizens as defined by the 4th amendment to the Constitution. Bill Burton, a spokesman for Senator Obama, vowed that you would “support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.” It is essential that you declare his intention to honor this pledge now. We need 41 senators to maintain a filibuster of this seriously flawed legislation. Senator Obama, as the likely nominee of our party, you are the de-facto head of the party. We need your leadership in-order to find these 41 senators.

Senator Hillary Clinton has not been clear about her intentions with the FISA Amendments Act. The Ulysses Democratic Committee sent her the following letter:

Dear Senator Clinton:

Our community is very disappointed with the House for voting to pass the FISA Amendments Act. We call upon you to join our Senior Senator from NY, and Senators Dodd and Feingold, in acting to filibuster the bill in the Senate if telecom immunity is not stripped from the bill. We also question the need for increased powers for the Executive branch to spy on the American people without a warrant, which we understand to run contrary to our constitutionally-protected rights.

New York’s senior senator, Charles Schumer, has clearly expressed his opposition to the FISA Amendments Act. Thanks to him for making that stand.

Here’s what Town Board member Liz Thomas has to say on the matter.

“On June 18th, the Village held a public hearing for all residents within the Fire District on a proposal to move from providing taxpayer-funded ambulance service to a bill-for-service system. Billing for ambulance transport would allow the Fire District to recover some funds from health insurance companies, which many of us feel is a justified use of our insurance. However, many residents have no insurance and the result of this switch to billing for service is that everyone will be billed, not just those who are insured. It should be noted that the Village is willing to commit to forego collection of bills for uninsured individuals, if it is legally permissible.

I would estimate nearly 100 people attended the hearing, and the majority who spoke, including several EMS volunteers, were in favor of keeping the system as is. From my point of view, the audience seemed inclined to continue taxpayer funded emergency medical service coverage for all, regardless of whether they are insured or not.”

As for myself, I take special note of the following sentence in what Thomas has to say: “It should be noted that the Village is willing to commit to forego collection of bills for uninsured individuals, if it is legally permissible.”

There’s a pretty big IF in that statement, when it comes to what’s legally permissible, and a loophole that those who seek to extract money could drive a bus through.

Also, I’d like to know what the Village plans to do about the underinsured. Our community is not just divided up into insured and uninsured. There are a lot of self-employed people in Trumansburg and Ulysses, and we tend to have pretty bad medical insurance, because we don’t belong to the big employment pools that can negotiate special rates.

What’s the Village willing to do for the underinsured, when it comes to ambulance service? If we’re not covered for ambulance service, will we not be billed, or will only those with absolutely no medical insurance whatsoever be given a break…

… if the Village makes the legal interpretation about whether that’s permissible.

These are hard economic times, and the way that health insurance in the USA is likely to be going through big changes in the next four years. Property values in Ulysses are going up right now.

Is there really a reason to rush this decision through this year?

What will the Town of Ulysses look like in 20 years? What can you do to help ensure it is an attractive and vibrant place to live? A public input meeting with the Ulysses Comprehensive Plan Committee and consultant Bergmann Associates will be held:

Thursday, July 10th

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Franziska Racker Centers, 3226 Wilkins Road

Join us for a lively and informed discussion of planning issues. Learn about the results of the Community Character Survey that summarizes the way that Ulysses residents feel about development.

Review the Draft Future Land Use Plan that was developed from input at public workshops held in the spring. Talk about what the plan means and how it could help guide future development regulations.

Comprehensive Plan documents in draft form are available at the Town Hall, the Ulysses Philomathic Library, and on the Town’s web site at www.ulysses.ny.us (under “document downloads”). Can’t make the meeting? E-mail your comments to ulyssesCP2008@gmail.com.

Transparency Concerns

Concerns about the transparency of the Comprehensive Planning (CP) process were raised at the last Town Board meeting by one member of the board. The Comprehensive Planning Committee (CPC) is a dedicated and diverse community group of volunteers who have been working for nearly 2 years to update the existing CP to guide the development of our community for the next 20 years. The CPC has been very busy. Working with Bergmann Associates, a professional planning firm, they have created a community-based plan with input from residents who have chosen to participate in the process. This past fall, the CPC surveyed residents to determine their wants and needs. In February, Bergmann Associates presented the results of the survey to the public along with other statistics of our town (see them at http://www.ulysses.ny.us/tou-existing-condrefiitions.pdf). In April, the CPC and Bergmann Associates hosted two public workshops to refine the types of development residents felt would be an asset to the community and those that would be inappropriate. Also at these 3-hour workshops, residents were asked to help create a map of Ulysses outlining potential future land use. This map very broadly identifies the kinds of development that would be appropriate and desirable in various areas of the Town. It will serve as a blueprint to guide future land use planning decisions and could inform zoning changes. The draft policy areas can be seen at http://www.ulysses.ny.us/cp-policies2008.pdf and the potential future land use map at http://www.ulysses.ny.us/ulysses_flp07-01-08.pdf.

This has been an incredibly productive group thanks to the dedication of the volunteers who have donated hundreds of volunteer hours and to Bergmann Associates’ expertise. As you can see, the CPC has bent over backward to be inclusive and open in the process of creating this draft plan. Please be a part of the future and come to the upcoming meeting on July 10th or contribute comments. The regular meetings of the CPC are held the 3rd Tuesday each month as is stated on the web and are always open to the public.

If you would like to speak to a CPC member, they are Sue Poelvoorde, Rod Hawkes, David Tyler, Bob Brown, Bob Weatherby, Sue Ritter, Heather Filiberto, John Wertis, Roxanne Marino, Deirdre Cunningham and I am the liaison to the Town Board.

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