REMAPPING THE JUDICIARY: Redistricting has unexpectedly emerged as a hot-button topic in New York politics in recent months, with state lawmakers pushing a constitutional amendment to redraw congressional lines before the 2028 elections.
But there’s another mid-decade redistricting question that will be at the forefront of state politics in the coming months: Democratic legislators are hoping for the first remapping of upstate judicial districts since the 1800s.
“The sinking of the Titanic happened more recently than the last time these have been reviewed,” said Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera, a Buffalo Democrat.
Both houses of the Legislature have passed a bill sponsored by Rivera that would increase the number of judicial districts in New York from 13 to 15. That would involve taking the three existing districts centered in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse and removing the rural counties now within them. Those rural counties would then be mixed together to create two new districts.
I packed my gear for heading out to camp after work tonight, but didn’t finish up packing nor getting groceries or dirving to work. I think I wll still take tomorrow off but first I will go ride my bike both ways to work, then run to the laundromat, get clams and groceries at Price Chopper, then visit my parents house tomorrow morning to check on their cat.
I had thought about driving in today, and heading up to camp after work but I really should get to the laundromat and I was just feeling tired both last night and this morning. Maybe its partially auto anxiety but I also feel like I just got back from Vermont. If I worked until 5 PM tonight, stopped for clams and visited my parents house on the way to Rensselearville I would being set up close to dark, driving my creeky old truck ride likes shit as I struggle to see well enough with my contacts. It reduces my auto anxiety to be driving my clunker in the daylight, when I have a full day to recover should something go wrong. Nothing will, but I swear the clunk it normally makes whne parking was louder then usual. In the daylight tomorrow I can also check the oil and coolant and brake fluid not because there are leaks but it helps my anxiety.
Truth is the best option is to just leave in the morning. But you’re leaving a night in the woods on the table, at one level I tell myself. But that campsite I normally stay at is fairly shaded so this time of year, 3 nights would be tough on the batteries. And I don’t really need an extra night in the woods, those calories from the beer and toxic smoke from cannabis and whatever other shit I burn. There were a big stack of pallets near where I work and I could have gotten one for firewood but I also don’t like potentially leaving nails in the fire pit for myself or others to run over with their 35 inch tires.
Who knows if they even will have clams at the store, 🦪 but I think it would be fun with the sweet corn broiled up in the woods, snacking on them all day, while riding trail and hiking and exploring wildflowers. I might bring my 20-guage shot gun with my assuming I can renew my license on line and see if there are some tree rats I can harvest and toss them into the brine of clams and beer. And I have a few library books I want to get through on Hoopla before my books expire on Monday. Sunday I want to hike and/or ride at Partridge Run.
I will be only a little more then a day out from the Big Snip of my eyes 👀 next week at this time. I thought about going to the Adirondacks this weekend but I have a lot of things to do and I’m hoping by October 4th I’ll be in a place I can take off the following week to head north. If not, it will be the week after. I got to see how long and how strict the restrictions on kayaking and bike riding are, but I think I will do a full week at some point in October. I always worry be using too much vacation and personal time, but then I end up at the end of year having to burn it up before the year is done as I can only roll so much over into the new year.
One of the problems with social media – and conventional media more generally – there is the belief that everybody should practice politics and governance should not be reserved to the experts. While in a democracy, citizen participation is an important of governing, citizens should be one input in many, and not every person should be practicing politics.
Moreover, government workers should not be held in such high esteem. It’s long been a plot by government agencies rather then pay employees fairly or increase employee safety at the work place, to instead celebrate the venerated employees. Why make a police officer’s or soldier job better, when you can offer them a parade with lots of flags? Speeches, ceremonies and flags are cheap.
The truth is most of the things government does isn’t particularly relevant to you. While it’s kind of important the traffic lights and potholes are repaired on the roads you drive, a lot of things that are reported in the news as controversies aren’t particularly important. Most news is more about self-aggrandizement of the government workers, rather legitimate public concerns in your own life. How important is the doings in Washington, if the lights come on when you turn them on in the morning?
People would be a lot better off if they didn’t let politics become so self-consuming in their life, if they stopped reading and studying the news so carefully. It’s good to have a passing knowledge of what is happening directly out of your line of sight, but so much of what is happening in this world is irrelevant crap to your own life, when you would better off at a focusing on domain-specific knowledge relevant to issues directly impacting you. As they say, there is only two forms of news that matter to most of us – traffic and weather. I mostly care about the later, as I ride my bike to work.
I do give credit for the social media advertisers who do many different creatives to appeal to unique demographics. After days like yesterday in the office, I wish people would use more targeting. It’s a powerful thing.
Kind of dark and cloudy to start out the day, 🌅 but then again we are kind of into the meat of autumn within a week there being more night thenday every day. Happens every autumn. Hopefully with the new windows upstairs things won’t be so drafty come winter, though that door downstairs is kind of a mess.
Last night was the hearing over the Comphrensive Plan in Guilderland, 🌲 and I was there again with Save the Pine Bush advocating for stronger protections for the Pine Bush. It was just another busy day in the office but I also got a few things posted to the blog and made some maps up. 🗺️ Got more GIS work to do for Save the Pine Bush some point today, though I think those projects should be relatively straightforward load of MapServer layers, though it looks like I am going to have to hand draw the zoning districts for the Village of Colonie, because we’ll, they don’t them have them loaded into a MapServer.
Today I am going to head in a bit early so I can get bananas 🍌 so I have something to snack on in the office, and will ride downtown on my bike to get to the Farmers Market and talk to the bank about adjusting my credit limit so I can in theory put my eye surgery next week on my card to get the points. 💵 If not it’s the end of world, I think the credits are only about $50 or less if I do it that way versus the expense of getting a bank check for a buck. 🚲 Riding in today, kind of sucked catching the local bus to work, I don’t know about this winter.
At some point soon I need to grocery shop 🛒 and maybe get to the laundromat and drive out to my parents house to check on the cat. 🐈 I was thinking about taking off Friday, I am undecided about that. Need to decide today. Clams are cheap, so I could enjoy them along with sweet corn. 🌽 Things are so dry but there might be good color out in the hill towns due to autumn coming early with the dry conditions. 🍁 Need to be careful with fire, 🔥 no burn ban and things are still fairly green but things are dry too. Not April though for sure. I would bring extra water 💦 and keep the fire small. The following week I’ll be recovering from my eye surgery 👀 so I’ll be stuck at home.
So it was just kind of a long day yesterday, 💤 and by the time the hearing was done, I was completely exhausted. Really taking the local bus in and transferring to shuttle just makes the day so much longer and exhausting. I could drive in but it’s really not something I particularly enjoy. People were ribbing me about my office and big shots salary yesterday, 💵 but it’s not really like that with things so expensive these days. And then that difficult client with the targeting, 🎯 always wanting to do things district wide and upset when we pointed out they’re well over limit for the year. 🤷♂️ Difficult people are just difficult at times.
but I really should get to the laundromat and I was just feeling tired both last night and this morning. Maybe its partially auto anxiety but I also feel like I just got back from Vermont. If I worked until 5 PM tonight, stopped for clams and visited my parents house on the way to Rensselearville I would being set up close to dark, driving my creeky old truck ride likes shit as I struggle to see well enough with my contacts. It reduces my auto anxiety to be driving my clunker in the daylight, when I have a full day to recover should something go wrong. Nothing will, but I swear the clunk it normally makes whne parking was louder then usual. In the daylight tomorrow I can also check the oil and coolant and brake fluid not because there are leaks but it helps my anxiety.
But you’re leaving a night in the woods on the table, at one level I tell myself. 
But that campsite I normally stay at is fairly shaded so this time of year, 3 nights would be tough on the batteries. And I don’t really need an extra night in the woods, those calories from the beer and toxic smoke from cannabis and whatever other shit I burn. 
There were a big stack of pallets near where I work and I could have gotten one for firewood but I also don’t like potentially leaving nails in the fire pit for myself or others to run over with their 35 inch tires.
Sunday I want to hike and/or ride at Partridge Run. 
I got to see how long and how strict the restrictions on kayaking and bike riding are, but I think I will do a full week at some point in October. I always worry be using too much vacation and personal time, but then I end up at the end of year having to burn it up before the year is done as I can only roll so much over into the new year.
