In the wee hours of Saturday morning, March 31 — as most of the state was sound asleep — the New York State Assembly was making final determinations of how to spend $168 billion of New Yorkers’ hard-earned money. Yet again, Albany’s notoriously secretive budget process relied on “emergency” messages of necessity to avoid the normal three-day aging period, was passed with essentially zero public input, and was negotiated entirely by four men in a room behind closed doors. It’s no wonder the final budget falls short in so many critical areas. It was a product of politics, ego and haste rather than sound fiscal responsibility.

While the budget was passed ahead of the April 1 deadline, the haphazard 11th-hour negotiations, rush to beat the Easter and Passover holiday, and overall lack of even a shred of transparency are simply unacceptable. The Assembly Minority Conference has long advocated for a reformed budget process that represents the best interests of all New Yorkers, with input from the public and each conference of the New York Legislature. We will continue to push for a better budget — one New Yorkers truly deserve.

Budget leaves out too much

Two of New York’s biggest problems are incredibly high taxes and ineffective, runaway economic-development programs — yet the budget does virtually nothing to address either of them. New York State wastes billions of dollars on incentive programs that do not create jobs. Despite being asked repeatedly to prove their effectiveness, the governor’s office has not been able to produce any evidence the programs produce a worthwhile return on investment. 

New York has the nation’s worst local and state tax burden, 49th worst economic climate, 47th worst property taxes, and second-highest debt burden. New Yorkers need real, broad tax relief. The closest we got was a bizarre gimmick the governor concocted to cheat the new federal tax code, which is as likely to be ruled illegal as it is to fail. Taxpayers are growing tired of the games being played with their money. They want and deserve a spending plan that cuts unnecessary costs and saves them money. Instead, they received another Frankenstein’s monster with little relief. 

Ethics continues to stew on the backburner

Another Assembly member, Pamela Harris, resigned recently ahead of her fraud trial. Harris is just the latest example of a public official betraying the public trust. The governor’s most trusted aide, Joseph Percoco, was just found guilty on felony charges related to his position. The scourge of corruption has inexplicably continued to go unchecked despite trial after trial. The legislature and executive branch have done an awful job of policing themselves.

The Assembly Minority Conference has proposed the Public Officers Accountability Act of 2017 (A.5864), to reduce the concentration of power hampering democracy. Some provisions of the bill include: term limits for legislative leaders and committee chairs; creating an independent ethics panel to replace the Joint Commission on Public Ethics; and creating the new crime of failure to report corruption.

 What was sorely lacking in the final budget agreement now becomes a call to action for the remainder of the 2018 legislative session.       

Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C–Canandaigua), a former small-business owner, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@nyassembly.gov

Here’s a question society is facing today: What will we do with our old malls? Heck, we are still trying to figure out what to do with our old Main Streets. And our old downtowns.

Now, the malls that killed downtowns are themselves being killed. Some of the outlet centers are feeling the pressure, too.

They are all bleeding shoppers to Amazon. And to other online retailers. Anchor stores like Sears and Macy’s are taking the gas. Chains like RadioShack and Payless used to thrive in malls. No more. RadioShack has been bankrupt twice.

This is hardly news to you. Mall owners see the writing on the wall. You see the shopfronts empty. You see fewer shoppers than you did 10 years ago.

This is a problem that is mostly American. There are far fewer big malls in other countries. Europeans have one-tenth the retail space per shopper that we do. They frequent quaint shoe stores. We lose our way in 2 acre layouts that feature 400 sneakers.

So maybe we overdid it. You think? Excess is an American tradition. Anyway, the question is: What do we do now?

Malls and shopping centers of all types helped destroy our old downtown areas. Well, we did. We all bought cars and abandoned mass transit. We flocked to the suburbs. We, the big shoppers of this country.

Unfortunately, cities and developers moved too slowly to find new uses for the old downtown buildings. They lacked property tax money to stimulate re-development — because the tax money went to the suburbs.

The malls did their damage many decades ago. But the old downtowns of cities like Jamestown, Utica, Watertown, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Buffalo still suffer.

I suspect we will be faster this time. Quicker to find new uses for malls than we did for exhausted downtowns. There are a lot of imaginations working on the problem. And, they have a lot of money with which to work.

In big super malls we are seeing more high-end restaurants, IMAX theaters, go-kart tracks, and rock climbing. Even roller coasters, dance halls, and casinos. Farmers’ markets are springing up in the parking lots. Some malls have developed entertainment halls for musical events.

A few big malls are creating walking paths and parks around and within the mall. There are museums re-located to malls, along with art galleries and libraries. Some malls have indoor farms and fitness centers.

Some nursing homes operate from old malls. As do churches and walk-in clinics. And larger medical centers. A few old malls have even become homes for colleges and high schools.

Housing is more difficult but not impossible. The difficulties come from lack of plumbing and electrical services. Nonetheless, some developers think they can turn malls into small towns of condos, apartments, shops, restaurants, and services.

These re-developments are coming more quickly than they did in our old downtowns. This is because the downtown buildings were owned individually. The owners did not always cooperate with each other. When some wanted to turn Main Street into car-free zones, others did not. Agreements on shopping hours fell apart.

A mall, of course, is usually owned by one company. It can easily set a new course — certainly more easily than a mix of squabbling building owners can.

We will see mall owners experiment. Some will flop. Some will succeed and be copied around the country. There are some great American imaginations at work on this issue.

One of the driving forces of capitalism is the phenomenon of “creative destruction.” The new destroys the old. We are witnessing the destruction of our old malls by new consumer shopping habits that are becoming ingrained. Experts tell us one in four malls will be closed within four years. That is a lot of destruction.

I am betting we will also see a massive wave of creation. Coming soon, to a mall near you.

From Tom…as in Morgan.        

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. Read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com