On the ground

Farm Catskills has invited author and economist Michael Shuman to speak in Delhi (at the Legion Hall) on Saturday October 24th at 2pm, on the topic of “Building Living Local Economies”.

They would like to get feedback from as many locally owned businesses as possible prior to the event to help tailor Michael’s talk to the needs and interests of Delaware County.  There is a short online survey for business owners, available at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=aO6RyE1MI_2bENzDWiAbJSJg_3d_3d

FMI, call Amy Kenyon, 607-643-1724

Building Local Living Economies
Free and open to the public!
Saturday October 24th 2pm
American Legion Hall, Delhi
Special Guest Speaker Michael Shuman
followed by local foods and business reception and book signing

From our farms to our Main Streets, locally owned small businesses are the foundation of our communities.  How can we do more to grow our local economy and encourage thriving local businesses?  Come to this event to learn more about what everyone, from local government leaders to banks, from business owners to consumers can do to be part of the movement to strengthen sustainable, vibrant communities in the Catskill region.

Michael Shuman is a dynamic speaker on local economy concepts. He is an economist, attorney, entrepreneur, and the author of several books including The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition and Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age.

Shuman has been involved with a variety of projects related to small and locally owned business development and support, including: creating a small business venture capital fund in New Mexico; launching a community-owned company in Salisbury (MD) called Bay Friendly Chicken; organizing university-government-business collaborations in St. Lawrence County (NY) and in the Katahdin Region (ME) to study opportunities for import replacement; preparing a buy-local guide and coupon book for Annapolis (MD); and building the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).

This event is organized by Farm Catskills, with funding support from the O’Connor Foundation and the Pure Catskills buy local campaign.

Just A Minute
The Debate Over Health Care Reform Comes Home
(from August 27, 2009)

By Ronald H. Bailey

I didn’t see anyone packing a gun. There were no shouted disruptions. No one invoked the phony specter of the nonexistent “death panels” that supposedly threaten Grandma.

Last week two of our elected federal representatives–Congressman Scott Murphy and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand–came to Delaware County to meet with constituents and hear their concerns. The discussions were remarkably civil.

On Tuesday morning, Murphy–the winner by a few hundred votes in a hotly contested special election to succeed Gillibrand in the 20th CD seat last March–showed up at the Meridale Deli and Grocery in the heart of Meridale. This is my neighborhood store, and, in fact, the only such establishment in the Town of Meredith.

The occasion was not one of those raucous town hall meetings that have bedeviled members of Congress these past few weeks. It was instead a Congress-on-Your-Corner event of the kind pioneered by Murphy’s predecessor, Kirsten Gillibrand.

These events allow constituents to get help with Social Security and other federal programs and to question their elected representative up close and personal. Questions for Murphy ranged over a number of issues, from the depressed price of milk paid dairy farmers to the possibility that cell phone towers might emit unhealthy radiation.

But the main concern among the three dozen or so local folks in attendance was health care reform. Murphy made clear that he favored the public option advocated by President Obama–a government-run program that would compete with private insurers and help hold down costs.

The discussion was spirited but polite. One woman cited problems she had experienced in dealing with Medicare. A man expressed distrust of any government program, including Social Security. Others spoke up for the government’s role, praising the public option or even a single-payer system such as that in Canada in which the government provides medical insurance for everyone.

After about 45 minutes in Meridale, Congressman Murphy moved on to the County Fair in Walton and later to another Congress-on-Your-Corner session in the village of Franklin without incident. He has promised to visit every town in his district during his foreshortened term in office. He will be up for reelection next year.

Senator Gillibrand visited the County Fair on Saturday and then attended a $25-a-person reception at Danny’s Restaurant in Walton to benefit Democratic candidates in this fall’s town elections. (Full disclosure: I am a Democratic town chair and did some volunteer writing for her nearly four years ago at the beginning of her first congressional campaign.)

Few of the 40-some people at the reception had seen Gillibrand since Governor David Paterson appointed her to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. Paterson has made many miscues since he assumed office, but selecting Gillibrand was a smart move. She is bright, a mainstream moderate and a formidable enough campaigner that strong potential challengers such as Steve Israel and Carolyn Maloney–both popular members of Congress–have opted not to go against her in a Democratic primary next year.

I was pleased to hear her position on health care reform. She is not only strongly in favor of the public option but spells out how it should be achieved. She advocates “Medicare for all.” People of any age could buy into Medicare for a certain percentage of their family earnings. The mechanism is already in place. And as a happy beneficiary of current Medicare, I consider it a highly successful program.

The meteoric rise and political evolution of Gillibrand has been fascinating to watch. I remember that a colleague and I talked to Gillibrand about single payer health care at the very beginning of her campaign for Congress. She was worried about what would happen to the health insurance industry. I heard no such concerns on Saturday.

The only naysayer at the reception was a woman I didn’t recognize. She asked a series of questions about the financial state of Medicare and Social Security–fair game, to be sure, but she had a critical, even rude, edge. At the end she was muttering about “taxing the rich.”

I suspected she might be a tea-bagger plant. In fact, she is a registered Conservative Party member from Sidney, married to a registered Republican. I appreciate her $25 donation to the County Democratic Committee and hope she enjoyed the good food and our congeniality.

Support our Democratic candidates this fall in these local races. We would greatly appreciate your help, either in time or donations. (You can donate online by clicking the ActBlue sidebar link):

BOVINA: Evelyn Stewart, Town Council / Edward Weber, Superintendent of Highways
COLCHESTER: Bonnie Seegmiller, Town Council
DAVENPORT: Dennis J. Valente, Supervisor / John B. Herron, Assessor
HAMDEN: Wayne E. Marshfield, Supervisor / Rosemarie Bryden, Town Council
HANCOCK: Melody R. Oliver, Town Clerk / Andrea Robinson, Assessor
KORTRIGHT: Steven C. Bower, Supervisor / Steven G. Smith, Town Council / William J. Smith, Superintendent of Highways
MEREDITH: Keitha Capouya, Supervisor / Penelope R. King, Town Clerk (2-yr vacancy) / Paul Menke, Town Council / John H. Janiszewski, Town Council / William Jester, Superintendent of Highways
MIDDLETOWN: Michael Finberg, Town Council / John Bernhardt, Town Council
ROXBURY: Thomas S. Hynes, Supervisor / Diane Pickett, Town Clerk / Wayne Pebler, Town Justice / Joan Moore, Tax Collector / Stephen Schuman, Superint. of Highways
SIDNEY: Dawn Rivers Baker, Supervisor / C. Peter Cordes, Town Council / Veronica Crandall, Town Council
TOMPKINS: William G. Layton, Supervisor / Amy Glerum, Town Clerk
WALTON: Richard Dumond, Town Council

SCOTT MURPHY officially opened his Delaware County Campaign Headquarters on 98 Main Street, Delhi on Wednesday, February 25. The well attended event was covered by several area newspapers and was a big success! Scott gave a presentation, fielded questions from the group and spoke one on one to area constituents. In case you missed it…

…CLICK HERE TO SEE A SLIDE SHOW of the opening. (Photos: Dan Flanagan).