Madden Hotel Sale

I'm conflicted.

A part of me wants to unleash my scorn at Jack Diamond (the Glens Falls mayor), the Post-Star, and the city system of Glens Falls for their collusionary eminent domain tactics in closing the Madden Hotel. It was clear from the start that no matter who owned it, nor how much they compiled w/ the city's request to get it in code compliance, the city was going to force a closure. The city was bound & determined to get their way, kicking out even legitimate residents like the Open Door food kitchen. I guess they are collateral damage in this tiff.

The city has spent so much tax payer dollars cracking down on the property & its residents, one has to wonder if those expenses could not have been spent more wisely. Like fixing the drainage system by Kensington Elementary School that floods everytime there's a minor rain or snowstorm.

Then there are days like today when I walk to my local library. My route takes me past the hotel. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, there is ALWAYS riff-raff in front of that place clogging the sidewalk. Furthermore, they act like I'm burdening them when I politely say "excuse me" because I'd like to pass through.

I'm not delusional in thinking that the Madden's closure will actually solve the problems of finding a place in the city for affordable housing. But if its closure (& hopefully its demolition) addresses trying to get rid of the riff-raff that's CONSTANTLY there, all I can say is good riddance.

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In other news...
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This here is Danielle.

The antcedote behind this image is that the day prior it was an unseasonably humid 80 degrees. The day this was shot it was a frigid 50 degrees. It didn't help matters that a downpour earlier that day forced me to cancel a shoot w/ her roommate. Well, that & any sort of inclement weather turns drivers into complete (expletive deleted) morons one of which nearly sideswiped her while yacking on their cell phone.

Anyway, Danielle was participating in my ongoing Abandonment Adventure series. The one people sometime refer to as "Urbexing" or "Urban Exploration." I like the visual contrast between the "dirty, blah" environment juxtaposed against the "pretty, clean" model.



Feel free & comment away if you so choose.

Enjoy.

Local Purse Snatching

Saw an interesting article in today's local newspaper.

http://poststar.com/news/local/article_be434480-700b-11df-852e-001cc4c002e0.html

There's something about this where its setting off my BS detector.

The red flags:

1. "The attacker was described as a thin black male, 6 feet to 6-feet-2 tall, wearing baggy black pants, a red shirt with a black logo and a red bandana on his head. He also reportedly had gold teeth and thin mustache or goatee."

Sounds like the stereotypical "big black" man, wearing "big black man" appearal, w/ gold teeth & facial hair to make him sound more menancing. Never mind the fact that Northern NY is hardly known for its ethnic diversity. Never mind the fact that that stretch of the bike trail isn't really near any residential areas (we'll get to that later).

2. "The incident happened shortly before 2 p.m." "the man jumped out of bushes and grabbed her purse"...Jumped out of the bushes during the middle of the day?"

Jumped out of the bushes in the middle of the day? Considering biketrail stretch has a nice straight away, the victims are saying that he lay in wait specifically for them?

3. "The woman and her boyfriend struggled with him, the man punching the woman -- who is battling breast cancer -- in the chest before he was able to rip the purse away and run off."

This is the most head-scratching part. Petty crimes like purse snatching are what's called "crimes of oppurtunity." You prep, you make your attempt, & get the heck outta there. You don't stick around & fight. To many things can go wrong.

It also makes me wonder what the heck the boyfriend was doing. Did he try & run after the perp?

4. "The couple continued walking on the bike path until they got to Maple Street, where they spotted a relative who they told about the alleged attack."

Admittedly, this is less of a red flag. In today's day & age of instant & portable communication devices like cell phones, between the two of them you'd think there'd be pretty good odds that they'd have one. Where they could report the incident near the scene of the crime. Apparently, that's not the case.

Though a purse-snatching by a "big black" man is plausible, there are so many concidences. To many things don't add up for it to smell right.

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In other news...
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This here is Rika doing the relationship w/ her boyfriend.

We were playing w/ the short span of late afternoon winter sunlight while we could.



Feel free to comment on whatever you like. It'd just be helpful if a first name was left in case I choose to reply (so I know who I'm addressing).

Winter Wonderland Contest

Hey Everyone,

If you could do me a favor & vote for this image, "Winter at the Feeder Canal":



...over at the Post-Star's Winter Wonderland Contest, it'd be greatly appreciate. I'm the very first entry on the first page.

For the record, you have to register your login in the contest section even if you've already registered w/ the regular site (like if you wanted to comment on news stories).

Any help would be appreciated.