Roberta M Roy

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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Crown Point Update

Expected dates for the reopening of the Crown Point Bridge range from 2010 to 2013 and 2020--all of which are incredibly far in the future for the residents of the area hit so hard economically and medically by the bridge's closing.

But the good news is that Vermont's Governor Jim Douglas may be back from in China. Also, New York's Governor David Patterson is not only here, but has declared a state of emergency for the New York area and NYState Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) evaluators are on sight.

However New York State has enough budgetary concerns--a 37% drop in revenues alone due to this year's the downturn on Wall Street--while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the army corps of engineers and a lot more resources it can bring to bear to solve the problem including quickly constructing a floating bridge. Also, FEMA can reimburse individual's for their loses.

Given the resources within New York, I believe Governor Patterson is doing the best he can to resolve the Crown Point emergency. However, it is not enough. Under the Stafford Act, it is the Governor who has final responsibility for asking the Federal Government to declare a federal emergency and for it to send in FEMA. This is what he must do. And do so now. Before more time is lost.

One piece of encouraging news is that Mayor Ernest Guerin,Village of Port Henry, New York (518) 546-9933, is actively involved in talking with the State to encourage a faster resolution of the problem. Last night we exchanged emails and I forwarded to him the FEMA website link at http://www.fema.gov/pdf/rebuild/recover/dec_proc.pdf as well as the associated contact information:
FEMA-Correspondence-Unit@dhs.gov Telephone: 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362); TDD: 1 (800) 462-7585; Fax: 1 (800) 827-8112. Hopefully, if he has not done so already, come Monday, he will use them.

I also forwarded to the mayor the link through which individuals can request relief (once the Federal Government declares the bridge closing an emergency). The questionnaire to determine individual eligibility can be found at http://www.disasterassistance.gov/daip_en.portal;jsessionid=Jj6KKrtPfDDhW19Jc71rRmchTj2WCcHPdglyzzVblyTCLxwF6W81!-347398920?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=gbcc_page_questionnaire&_nfls=false .
Just be sure not to send it unless you have completed exactly as it needs to be filled out as it looks like you only get one chance at it.

For a look at this essential and pretty bridge that New York State and Vermont have so seriously neglected, you can check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Point_Bridge .

Roberta in Po-Town. Is it really Halloween?

12:52 am edt Comments

Thursday, October 29, 2009

9:21 pm edt Comments

Goin' with the Gut

So a trillion dollars spread over ten years is about a hundred billion dollars per year ($100,000,000,000). (One source's projected cost of the Dems proposed health care bill.) And the only thing thing Whitcam Research and the War Resisters League agree on regarding the Federal Budget is that the 2007 budget ran around $2.7 trillion dollars ($2,700,000,000,000).

Then there is the report that Medicare's improper payment of funds in 2008 ran around $10.4 billion while the interest in debt created by military spending runs $390 billion or so. (You do the zeros.)

Too many lights and mirrors for me; I think I'll go with gut and support the Federal healthcare plan that the House Dems have pulled together. (Whatever support means . . . a yes vote in a national poll? A willingness to chance an increase in taxes?)

No matter. I will. Not for anything. Just it seems to be the only sign of hope on the horizon for the nation's uninsured, and unless we cut the military budget, as far as I can see, any fighting over whether or not it will cost us too much is just scrabbling over the chicken feed.

You see I've spent too much time in back country nursing homes where the people come in with a few teeth here and a few teeth there, malnourished because they can't chew, and not falling into meaningful healthcare coverage until they hit Medicare, if they live that long. (A little late, perhaps, as the health bus for them pulled away long ago.)

Yes. I happen to like the notion of health care coverage for 95 percent of Americans mixed with some free-wheeling competition to be created between the cost of the insurance the government will offer and the cost of that provided by the private insurers.

They say the plan will be paid for by taxing high-income people more while cutting some $500 billion in payments to Medicare providers by, for one thing, reducing duplication of services. Hmmm.

I wonder who the providers and rich people are? Are there any well-to-do left since Wall Street pulled the rug out from beneath so many of them? And what per cent of the reimbursements go to the medical doctors and what per cent goes to the allied health care providers? And how many of the insurers are highly paid administrators? And what percentage of providers and insurers run up the cost of documenting for reimbursement using outmoded, inefficient means of tracking costs e.g. 1970 DOS programs? And how much documentation is still done by hand and submitted by snail mail?

And you? Where are you?

It's so easy to be caught in the lights and mirrors. And in these times of 'modern dumb', so politically questionable to go with the gut.

But without the gut the choice is there? Negativism? Inertia?

Roberta in Po-Town, Lookin' for a glimmer

8:32 pm edt Comments

Monday, October 26, 2009

Reflecting on Our Appearance in the Future

Well, while we're waiting for 2020 (or possibly a more specific prediction of when the Crown Point Bridge's repair will be done), I think it's time to consider the future appearance of the human race.

Yesterday I learned that it has been hypothesized that the women of the future will be on average, shorter, heavier, and more beautiful while men will be more 'ugly'. This notion was proffered as the likely result of natural selection. And here was the reasoning: It seems shorter, heavier women tend to bear more children. If this is true then we can hypothesize that there will be an increasingly larger gene pool from which to draw to create shorter and fatter women. And as the cultural bias (reforced by the media) puts pretty female faces at a premium, one might further hypothesize these shorter, plumper women might also be prettier.

Not so, however, for the males. Lucky for them, women don't seem to care if men do or do not have the face of an Adonis. Instead women seem to look for a little chemistry and understanding and the promise of love and security. As such, the appearance of men in the future is pretty much a crap shoot skewed to reflect whatever women happen to fancy about them regardless of their looks. So as I see it, that means that if you look about now, what you see is what you'll get. (Which I don't think means uglier, just more of the same ol'. This disagrees with the second 'ugly' part of the hypothesis.)

But then there is the Time-Traveler Factor pushing for elevating (or lowering) men to become primarily sex objects, beautiful to observe, but totally unreliable as far as being around when women need them. And further complicating the problem if that scenario kicks in would be that when men are around, they'd probably be distracted by having to worry about (in addition to finding clothes) maintaining their graceful lines and irresistible beauty--or, if you prefer, handsomeness.

So where does all this lead? Will the media begin to feature the heaviest female with the ugliest male partner as the epitome of style? Will female beauty by virtue of its superabundance become of less interest? Instead, will men seek out heavier women even when less pretty because of their reproductive acumen? Or will men do more to investigate beneath the surface appearance and find out first who is in there? Is she bright? Is she balanced? Can she make him laugh? Does she care?

As for the women, I'm not concerned. Their maternal instinct will continue to permit them to accept men for who they are rather than what they look like. (At least I hope so.) And maybe, given female beauty could become so common as to no longer be so sought after, women might more readily be able to relax, strip the make-up and hair color and look in the mirror and say, "I like me for who I am--not who they want me to be."

Roberta in Po-Town, Jist' speculatin'

9:41 pm edt Comments

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Projecting the Crown Point Bridge Re-opening Date through the Use of Mathematic Interpolation

Kristen Henderson has come forward as the first to project when the Crown Point Bridge will reopen. By interpolating from the time it took to reopen the Highland Railroad Bridge across the Hudson River, her guess is that the Crown Point Bridge will reopen in the spring of 2020. (See yesterday's blog's comments) Well done, Kristen!

Roberta in Po-Town, Encouraged!

12:07 am edt Comments

Friday, October 23, 2009

Moving Forward

Tonight I took action. I signed on to the Addison Independent and the Press Republican websites and made some recommendations to the mayors in Addison County, Vermont, and Essex County, New York, about the need to end the Crown Point Bridge closing on Lake Champlain before the snow flies. I reminded them again of how thousands of people's lives are affected by its closing. How hundreds have lost access to any reasonable plan to commute to work across the state line that the bridge intersects. I told them again of how livestock are cut off from their owners and feeding them has become more problematic. And more costly. I mentioned how the closest hospital of any size is located in Middlebury, Vermont and how people from Port Henry, Moriah, Ticondaroga, and Crown Point no longer can reach it within thirty-five minutes and in the winter after the lake freezes, the commute with detour to it could take a couple of hours. The officials are working on developing a ferry service, but who knows how efficient that will be in busy times. And come the freeze, we can forget it.

So. What's my idea? Well, remember New Orleans? And how the mayor failed to make a timely call to FEMA? Well, funny thing. Here, too, under the guidelines, it's not the governors or the legislatures or the county execs who have to make the call for relief to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Nope. It's the mayors. Or any mayor. He or she has to telephone and say that in my village or city we are suffering the effects of a major emergency. But in this case one cannot hear the cries; they are silent. One cannot see the wounds; they do not bleed. One cannot guess the pain; the people here are too motivated toward self-sufficiency and independence. Nonetheless, it's there. And I need you now, FEMA. Send us an army corps of engineers to respond as they might in times of war. Have them rebuild the bridge before the snow flies. Let them even put out one on pontoons now, if necessary, so we can go to work, feed our cows, care for our ill, supply our daily needs and businesses, support the economy with tourism, and bring us back to normalcy.

I figure that if I have online readers, surely the Addison Independent and the Press Republican have them. And all it will take is one person willing to say to the mayor, "Hey, mayor, have you called FEMA? No? Well, why don't you try it? How can it hurt? We need help. Big help. And fast. Like yesterday." We just need one person willing to talk to a mayor and one mayor willing to make the call. Two people in all.

Will it work?

But then again, maybe they already have it figured out. After all, New York and Vermont have known about the problem for at least eight years to my knowledge. So somebody ought to be ready. That said, I am now welcoming guesses as to the opening date for the next bridge crossing for the Point. And the blogger who is closest to the mark is invited to explain to the rest of us just how he or she was able to so closely devine the date. And in recognition of that person's prowess in predicting the future, one day's blog will be dedicated to whatever message he or she would care to share with the rest us on the topic of emergency response.

Roberta in Po-Town, Truckin'

10:59 pm edt Comments

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Taking Stock

Hmm. Where am I now?

Jolt went to press today, both the paper back and the hard cover copies with their associated cover and dust jacket. My next book, this one for children, Yell'n'Tell, sits waiting for design and publishing.
My cousin Elsa's estate needs to be put in order and matters associated with it, closed; mostly bookkeeping and a bit of typing.
My house in Port Henry awaits a buyer. I should post a picture of it so you can understand why I miss it. Winter is coming and the property there needs spiffying up; I called Jim C. who agreed to clean up the grounds just as he has each year for the last eight.

But the thing that really has me caught is the fact that the Crown Point Bridge from Crown Point, NY, to Vermont, was last week closed on a dime--without a plan--due to structural weaknesses well-known about for years.

Is it possible that the governors ofVermont and New York are pretty poor at joint-planning? With the result that the four thousand people who use the bridge daily are just out of luck? Tough.

But that's okay. They can just drive a half hour south and instead take the ferry at Ticondaroga at a cost of fourteen dollars a day and a twenty-five mile detour. (Forget the cost of gas.)

And then when Champlain freezes, they can just run down to Whitehall and cross, only a slightly longer detour. Seventy-four miles.

Can you believe it? The lives of easily ten thousand regular users turned top side down. A few hundred cut off from their workplaces and livelihood. The rest cut off from their regular medical providers and access to the nearest hospital. Business people cut off from suppliers. And both sides of the Lake suffer further losses in tourism.

As if the economy were not bad enough.

So why, I ask myself, isn't SEMA and FEMA there with a cadre of army engineers throwing up an emergency bridge crossing they'd have no problem doing if it prevented the Governors from leaving their mansions or weapons from crossing into enemy territory in time of war?

Angry, I am. And I don't even live there.

Roberta in Po-Town, Feeling down for the people in Essex, NY, and Addison, VT, Counties--when I should be feeling thrilled and happy that Jolt has gone to press

8:43 pm edt Comments

Monday, October 19, 2009

Not only landed, have telephone

The telephone saga. I won't bore you with it, but I will hit the highlights: Ordered cable with high speed internet. Cable came and said they'd put this rope to nowhere in the middle of my living room to which I might hook up a television that I wouldn't watch anyway and somehow or another some phones some place else, and I could go buy a box and get high speed internet.

As they only come during working hours, I couldn't be there and the whole proposal was too complicated to straighten out from work over lunch break so I canceled it and decided to go for ye olde copper wire landline through Verizon. Big mistake.

It seems that Verizon is pushing fiberoptics. Anyway I waited all last Saturday for them to come, but it was a no show. My loss.

I hate it when the big guy bullies the little guy, so I made lots of noise and this Saturday Ed arrived early at 9:00 a.m. to install the fiberoptics that had been pushed on me in a 45-minute hard-sell by a guy in Ohio.

Ed was confused. You only want a phone? You don't want television? You don't need high speed? Why then fiberoptics?

So I explained about the no-choice hard sell by the guy in Ohio and Ed said it made more sense to cancel the order and replace it with one for a copper wire. I said I'd love to do so, but how? Well, as it turned out, copper wire and fiberoptics are two separate operations, a fact I'd not understood. So Ed called and canceled the fiberoptics phone line order and had Jannelle write an order for a copper wire landline phone which was later turned on from the office and I didn't even have to be there.

So here I am. Back online. Late. But a happy camper.

Roberta in Po-town, smiling

12:29 am edt Comments

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Landed

Lived at six addresses in thirteen months. Moved five times. Don't ask me. Down-sized twice. Almost have it down to a science now.

Tuesday completed packing. My sister W came over to help. We packed a litte. Ate a little. Packed some more. Went for ice cream. By nine we were done. W left and I packed up the last closet.

Wednesday was moving day. Rob and Will came with truck with trailer and van. Started at 8:00 a.m. Done by one. Po-town was only a half-hour drive. W brought pizza and sodas. We ate. The guys left. W and I packed. Done by 9:00 p.m. Well there were a few boxes yet to do, but enough is enough.

Made it to work on time on Thursday. Picked up two egg McMuffins on the way. One made breakfast, one lunch. Made it through the day, but at home in my new abode lay down on the couch after work for a few minutes and woke up at 8:30 p.m., ate, and went to bed.

Friday, yesterday, was better. Now I am waiting for the internet which won't be in before next Wednesday. Meantime I'm moonlighting on my son's, thinking of you and of all the excitement I am missing with the opening of the railroad bridge and the Walkway over the Hudson.

More anon.

Roberta in Po-Town chillin'

4:07 pm edt Comments

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Here you're suppose to learn about my personal life, my love of learning, the dog I don't have, my house that sits empty on a hill in Port Henry 'cause on the one hand I don't want to sell it, 'cause I love it too much, but on the other hand, I never seem to find the time to get there anymore but I haven't found a buyer. Of course I haven't been looking either. Too busy with Jolt. Also this site is still under construction so I probably won't get to selling it this month either. Well, that means, at least I can run up there over Labor Day and party with all my friends and neighbors there which is enough to make me want to hurry up and finish this so I can get ready to leave.

Here I am supposed to write more about myself and think about putting a picture of myself someplace below, except I put the picture in before I did anything else because I thought I was suppose to get rid of the butterfly but it didn't, which is probably just as well because I like the butterfly better. That's because it doesn't make me feel exposed like the black dress I'm wearing below does. The reason I chose that picture is because my sister C. thinks it's about the best picture of me I ever had taken. That's because I'm more mature now and most pictures look awful because they really look just like me. Of course C. thinks the one below does and all the other ones don't. Which a bit of a trip in itself. But what is there to say? And I'm glad she took it. R.