Utica City and School Board Issues

Public Frustration and Dissatisfaction at 2nd St. Luke's Meeting

Toward the end of the April 30, 2024 meeting Christian a representative of Mohawk Valley EDGE rushed to the podium. Unfortunately his comments confirmed the suspicions of many in attendance, that these meetings are just for show. Planner and presenter Ms. Fu tried to save Christian from the lion's den of public opinion with her well chosen words. However, talking with people afterward those words were not enough to allay their fears. This episode contains the whole meeting and my commentary. Feel free to pass along your opinions on what you heard at denofdiscussion@gmail.com [denofdiscussion@gmail.com]

Renewables Growth Stats and the Real Smokey Bear Story

Amazing Growth of Renewables in the last 10 years. Peter Girard from Climate Central talks about this from their April 2, 2024 report. Not only is it full of facts and statistics but their graphics make them easily comprehensible. To learn more go to www.climatecentral.org [www.climatecentral.org] In the second part.... Yes Virginia there is a Smokey the Bear? Unlike Santa this cats....uhhhh I mean bear is for real!!! In this 1953 newsreel from the US Forest Service ,Hop-a-Long Cassidy gets us started on the journey to find out the origin of Smokey the Bear and his successful firefighting career. Make sure you stick around to hear his official song sung by school children. Smokey says Click on the podcast follow button.

Solar & Former Hospital Development Projects

You think we're all idiots says the neighbor to the solar farm developer. Others at a public hearing say they do not want a green forest replaced by green energy. Developer says that the residents are misinformed. Landowner says solar farm will be built one way or the other. And so it goes with the siting of renewable energy in New York State and the rest of the US. Also in this episode our guests tell us what type of development that they would like to see at a recently closed Hospital and its surrounding campus. Preservation of the environment seems to be the theme of the night, as wetlands and nature trails are a prime concern.

Utica City and School Board Issues

Did a bit of fact checking regarding Braedon Nanna's comments on the Morris Matters podcast and other shows. I sent this to him at 12:28 AM on 5/17/24. He responded a few hours later. Here is my initial inquiry and Nanna's response. Here is the interview we did with Braedon Nanna https://open.spotify.com/episode/2APD8ptqGAQ6RKmJfvBCB6 need response RE fact check Inbox Richard Morris Attachments 12:28 AM (20 hours ago) to Braedon Hi Braedon: On my show and others you have been stating that the Syracuse School System hired a Superintendent for about $144K. I have found these 2 articles from Syracuse.com that state that Mr. Davis was hired in 2022 for about $255K! The other article points out that Anthony Q Davis is the current Superintendent. Am I missing something or are you mistaken. Thanks for a quick reply, Richard Morris Morris Matters 2 Attachments • Scanned by Gmail Braedon Nanna 8:01 AM (13 hours ago) to me I use the SeeThroughNY site for research on any salaries in school districts, as the information there aggregates different wages including stipends. However, this site relies on information that is not always readily accessible and is not always up to date. In the case of the Syracuse Superintendent, when I checked previously the site showed Anthony Davis at ~$156,000. I also searched for “Syracuse City School District Superintendent salary” on Google and found only results for the former superintendents salary being ~$215,000. I was satisfied with this information confirming itself since a new superintendent will historically make less than the outgoing superintendent. After looking at your article I ran a search for “Anthony Q Davis salary,” a search query which in the past I have found to be inefficient as from experience it seems Google has an easier time finding the salary for a specific position rather than a specific person. In this case it appears that the SeeThroughNY salary reflected an outdated salary, likely when he was interim superintendent. I would also note that the general principle still applies. Syracuse teachers have a starting salary of approximately $8,000 more than in Utica and we are still prepared to pay a larger salary ($260,000-$300,000) to a starting superintendent than in Syracuse, a district of about double the size and budget. Furthermore, local area superintendents make quite a bit less than the proposed salary for Utica. Of note is Rome’s new superintendent at $215,000. Other districts (New Hartford, Whitesboro, Clinton) are in the range of $200,000 to $220,000. I would be happy to provide further links to research if you would so like. Thank you, Braedon Nanna brnanna23@gmail.com Guests include Utica Chief of Staff Mike Gentile and School Board Candidate Braedon Nanna. Unfortunately , there was a theme of transparency or lack thereof for the 2 organizations. Hear why Mr. Nanna predicted a significant graduation decline for Proctor and his agreement with Morris Matters that the City of Utica needs to establish a usage fee for Not for Profits within the City. Since Mr. Gentile wears many hats we were able to discuss a wide range of issues.

Against Madison County Landfill

We end the episode with breaking news regarding the efforts of citizens to stop the plan to privatize the Madison County Landfill. Before that news we discuss the issues surrounding the proposal with engineer Randy Hirshey and the longtime Manager of Solid Waste for Madison County, James Zecca. We have posted the Resolution passed 4/9/24 by the Board of Supervisors for the County at our www.morrismatters.com website.