f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

New Police Chief in Schenectady:   Yesterday, fifty-six years after his father Arthur Chaires became Schenectady’s first black police officer, Mark R. Chaires was sworn in as the City’s first African-American police chief.  See “Son of police pioneer makes history of his own” (Albany Times Union, Sept. 18, 2008); “Chaires begins job as Schenectady police chief” (Schenectady Daily Gazette, September 19, 2008); “Schenectady names Chaires first African-American police chief” (FoxNews23, Sept. 18, 2008).

A Schenectady native, Chief Chaires is 52 years old and has worked his way up the ranks in his 19 years in SPD.  He is taking over the helm of a Department that employs 165 officers, and has more than its share of controversy, scandal and morale problems.  (See, e.g., our post on Sept. 6th, and recent coverage of SPD’s dismal arrest statistics as compared to both national averages and our comparable neighbor, Troy, NY.)  Growing up with the example of a father who “never missed a day of work during his 27-year career” and who surely experienced — from the public and within the department — the racial prejudice that is rampant in blue-collar Upstate cities, Chief Chaires brings important personal and professional experience to the job.  That experience includes eight years in the Air Force.

Those who know him speak often of his integrity, and I’m impressed with the new Chief’s thoughtful remarks yesterday — focusing more on the need to get to work to achieve on-the-job excellence within the Department (improving “customer service”) and to earn the public’s trust, than on the historical importance of his appointment.  I’m also pleased to know that he had oversight of the SPD internal affairs office, which chose to refer the 2007 excessive force complaints of Donald Randolph (see our prior post) to the district attorney, rather than keeping the investigation in-house.

Chief Mark Chaires deserves the support of rank and file officers, of our poliical leaders and of the public as he tries to restore the performance and reputation of his Department, and to prove that Schenectady does indeed “have the makings of an outstanding police department.”  As a Gazette editorial noted today, the Chief’s job is a bit symbolic, since the City created the post of Public Safety Commissioner last year, and Chaires therefore reports to Commissioner Wayne Bennett (who is in the background in the photo at the head of this posting).  But, the position comes with plenty of responsibility and calls for skillful balancing among all the interests that need to work together to create the kind of Police Department that allows good cops to flourish and the public to trust and respect our police force.

The Gazette is correct that, with a population that is 15% black, Chaires’s promotion “is a significant step for a city, and a department, that has had relatively few minority employees and almost no minority managers.” “Editorial: Good choice for symbolic appointment” (Daily Gazette, September 19, 2008).  If Chief Chaires can gain the trust of Schenectady’s black community, we may indeed find arrest rates climbing and claims of excessive force and institutional neglect greatly reduced.

A final thought on the Schenectady Police Department: Recent online Comments at the Gazette website regarding editorials and articles about SPD show that far too many Schenectadians (especially police officers and their families, I presume) equate support for our police with silence over their flaws and failings and those of the Department. (see here and there, for example) I hope Chief Chaires can help demonstrate that honesty about past and ongoing problems, and the need for procedural and supervisory improvements, can help to rally support — internally, within City government, among the public — to find and implement solutions.  We all want our good cops to thrive within an effective and respected police department.

the dragnet of nightingales
closes in…
police station

……… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

.. Silly Donkey Club (Schenectady Chapter):  We’ve never been shy here at f/k/a about noting our disappointment with the Schenectady County Democratic Committee (e.g., here and there).  Today’s newspaper brought one more reason for registered Democrats in Schenectady County to blush with embarrassment over the crassness and political ineptness of our so-called party leaders. The Gazette article “Fair campaign group seeks more pledges” (Sept. 19, 2008) describes efforts by the group Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc to get county parties chairs across the Region — and not merely individual candidates — to sign the group’s Fair Campaign Pledge.  FCP is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties and the Interfaith Alliance of New York State, Capital Region.

Seven years ago, FCP established procedures to accept candidates’ charges of unfair campaign practices within the Capital District, hold hearings and issue decisions regarding the charges, and their efforts have been welcomed by the voting public.

See their “tips for Candidates” and list of “2008 Pledge Signers” , as well as their Candidate Manual (.PDF), and Decisions from prior years.

This sounds rather non-controversial, and the Gazette article tells us that party chairs around the region have signed the FCP pledge — except for Brian Quail, chair of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee. According to the Gazette:

. . QUAIL OPTS OUT

At least one party leader said he will not sign the pledge. “There are several reasons why I won’t sign it,” said Brian Quail, chairman of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee.

“You should not sign a piece of paper to promise to do good and decent things when you should always be doing good and decent things,” he said.

The second reason, he said, is that Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region lacks credibility. “They use totally subjective standards and they apply their standards to other people’s conduct,” Quail said. “They don’t matter. Who matters are the voters.”

I’m sorry, Chairman Quail, but voters really do want to know what an objective source like FCP has to say about the claims and accusations made in campaign materials, and about the charges hurled by political candidates and their election managers and parties.  The voters need to hear from balanced sources.  Your failure to sign the pledge makes us all wonder just what you have to hide and what FCP decisions you are hoping to avoid.

Here’s what Fair Campaign Practices says about its structure and procedures:

“A pool of 32 respected individuals from the four county region is selected to hear complaints. These community representatives serve on Hearing Panels that determine the validity of complaints. In order to ensure a balanced, fair process for all sides, the local chairs of all the recognized political parties, or their designees, automatically become ex officio members of the FCP Hearing Panel and attend hearings.

“After a hearing is held and a decision is made by the hearing panel, the decision is made known to the candidates involved and to the media so that the media can inform the voting public.”

I’m really tired of the leaders of the Schenectady County Democratic Party acting as if the rest of us are morons who will simply take them at their word and nod agreement to their nonsense.  Quail, Savage, et al. continue to make the Party look bad with their high-handed, irrational positions and policies.  They keep presenting a very big target for anyone wanting to pin the tail on the Democratic Donkey.

update (September 20, 2008): Today’s Gazette editorial is titled “Party Chairmen should embrace fair campaigns.” Here are excerpts worth repeating:

• “But the process is elaborate, it seems meticulously fair, and, slowly but surely, it has been gaining acceptance with candidates and voters. Now the League wants the region’s political party chairs to join in — a logical step, since chairmen often set the tone for campaigns and are behind much of the advertising.”
• “Unfortunately, as a story in Friday’s Gazette indicated, only a few have done so thus far, and one — Schenectady County Democratic Chairman Brian Quail — even denounced the idea as unnecessary and lacking credibility. His scorn for the system might have something to do with the fact that his party was flagged for violating fair campaign practices during the last election cycle.”
• “. . . [T]he more candidates and committee chairs who sign onto the concept of fair campaigns, the more likely they’ll adhere to the principles. That can’t help but make for fairer campaigns, a better-informed electorate and better government.”

playing dead
on the horse’s tail
a meadow horsefly

catching the kite’s tail
with his mouth…
gargoyle

even the old cow
has a fly-whisking
tail

at the tail end
of the cloudburst crowing…
rooftop rooster

sporting with
the big cat’s tail…
a little butterfly

chasing the kite’s tail
’round and ’round…
puppy

its tail points
to the rising moon…
pheasant

……… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

Sun-scorched slope–
an old donkey rubs his rump
against a mud-crusted post

Approaching storm…
a black colt in the meadow
snorts against the wind

late fall–
my echo calling
the dog

……………………… by Rebecca Lilly – Shadwell Hills (Birch Prees Press, 2002); “afternoon warmth” & “late fall” – The Heron’s Nest V:2

If you still believe that capitalist markets regulate themselves and that political ads are always fair and truthful, or that government is always the problem and never the solution, you might not agree with the f/k/a Gang today.  Seems to us, after more than a few decades of reflection, that sometimes (indeed, far too often) we need to legislate common sense and basic consideration for the safety and comfort of others.  To wit:

thumbthing in the way she moves — banning texting while driving:  Down south from us, the Westchester County legislature did a smart thing last week.  It passed a law banning Texting While Driving. See “Legislators Vote to Ban Texting While Driving” (New York Times, Sept. 16, 2008); “Board Approves Ban On Texting While Driving” (Westchester.com, Sept. 10, 2008).  It’s a very good trend, and I hope New York State will join Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington and impose a state-wide ban soon.

Usually, Prof. Yabut would pipe up about now and say something like: Oh sure, the pols can screw up the courage to ban a dangerous activity performed almost exclusively by those under 30 years old, but they’re too cowardly or hypocritical to pass meaningful bans on the far-more prevalent phoning while driving. [see, e.g., our prior post “California’s phony car-phone safety law“].  He has a point, of course, but today I’d rather focus on the positive.

The editorial page of the Schenectady Gazette got the tone and analysis right a couple days ago in a piece titled “Editorial: Textbook case of a law that shouldn’t be necessary, but is” (September 15, 2008):

. . ” It is unquestionably a commentary on how high our society has risen technologically — and how far we’ve fallen in terms of common sense and consideration of others — that laws banning text-messaging on a cellphone while driving a car are becoming more and more commonplace.

“Indeed, such laws seem necessary because no matter how obviously dangerous — how stupid! — it may be to take one’s eyes off the road to focus on a miniature computer screen while operating a ton-plus vehicle; then to take one’s hands off the wheel to key in a response, motorists persist in doing so. And when they do, they not only endanger their lives and the lives of anyone traveling with them, but anyone who might be sharing the road with them.”

The Gazette‘s Editor was also spot on with the conclusion: “And [the TWD law] should be enforced more rigorously than the oft-ignored handheld cellphone ban. Perhaps if police had done a better job with that one, motorists wouldn’t be so brazen about engaging in far-more-distracting text messaging.”  ‘Nuff said.

writing with a finger
in the clear blue sky…
“autumn dusk”

the cats are courting
bumping
heads

going nuts in hailstones
crashing down…
a fox

the old hand
swats a fly
already gone

now I watch
with careful attention…
autumn dusk

……… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

..  pet peeves – leash law scofflaws:  … An article two days ago in the Gazette reminded me of another of my pet peeves: People who are too self-important (or too sensitive to the feelings of their canine companions) to comply with leash laws in our parks and streets.  In “Town tightens leash laws: Dogs can run loose in only two designated parks” (Daily Gazette, September 16, 2008), we learn that the Town of Clifton Park, NY, passed a combination leash and dog-park-permit law “after months of discussions between board members, dog owners wanting the option to walk their pets off- and on-leash, and people wishing to use town land without being approached by dogs.”   In fact,

“In return for designating Kinns Road Park as an official leash-free zone, the board is tightening laws in all other parts of town, mandating dogs remain on leash at all times in neighborhood parks, playgrounds and other public places. While the former town law required that dogs remain ‘under the immediate supervision and control’ of their owners, the new law goes further, stating that dogs must be ‘under direct leash control’.”

One Clifton Park dog owner supports the new law, but correctly noted that she wants the leash law enforced, so that the money she pays for a permit to use the dog park doesn’t just become another tax with little real benefits.    Real enforcement — and, better yet, real compliance — is indeed an important aspect of a leash law.  We have one here in Schenectady, but I regularly see scofflaws at the small Riverside Park at the end of my block, along the Mohawk River.

Far too many dog-walkers act as if Schenectady merely requires their pets to be “under their immediate supervision and control” in public — and they very often fail to keep them under control.  Over and over, dogs off their leashes scare the elderly and the very young in Riverside Park, and terrorize other dogs and their owners, too.   When asked why they are merely carrying an unattached leash, the scofflaws are uniformly gruff and defensive, or simply indifferent and self-righteous.   I found this nifty quote from the California Court of Appeals at the Dog Law website:

“Whatever may be said about the affection which mankind has for a faithful companion, modern city conditions no longer permit dogs to run at large.”

Dog Law is presented by Nolo, Justia, and Little Sheeba the Hug Pug, with lots of materials put together by Nolo’s Mary Randolph, the author of the book “Every Dog’s Legal Guide: A Must-Have Book for Your Owner.” The website has information on many relevant topics, from Leash and Pooper Scooper Laws, to dangerous and barking dogs, traveling with dogs, and much more.  On the topic of Leash Laws, it tell us:

“Long gone from most of America are the days when you could answer a longing whine from your dog by opening the back door and letting it roam the neighborhood at will. . .

” ‘Leash laws’ generally require dogs to be on a leash and under control whenever they’re off their owners’ property, unless a specific area is designated for unleashed dogs. Some laws apply only at night (when dogs may form packs and do the most damage to livestock) or allow an owner to have a dog unleashed if it is under “reasonable control.” Even dog owners who let their dogs off a leash only because they’re confident they have complete control over them are probably in violation of a leash law.

“The intensity of enforcement, however, varies from city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood. In many places, an owner is unlikely to be cited if the dog really is under voice control and not bothering anyone, even if in technical violation of a leash law. But in some cities, police enforce leash laws strictly, especially if they have received complaints about unleashed dogs in a certain area. . . .”

.. .. Around here, we like to say: “Behind every annoying dog or child there’s an annoying adult.”  And, since it’s dinner time, it’s about time to say: ‘Nuff said.  So, let’s let dog-lover Issa take us home.

peach blossoms–
riding a dog
the naughty boy

suddenly
the dog stops barking…
lotus blossoms!

under dewy umbrella-hat
nodding off…
the dog barks!

the backstreet
is the dog’s toilet
first snowfall

all stretched out 
the dog naps
in the lilies

runaway kite!
the dog also eyes it
restlessly

playing with
the rambunctious dog…
little butterfly

the dog comes out
and calls them too…
fireflies

the dog chewing
the shuttlecock
comes running along

an east wind blows–
the dog lays his chin
on the bank

……. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue