I will not attempt to explain Supervisor Ruffino’s ‘trace’ remark as I did not participate in this past week’s teleconference. I will say that I really appreciate the teleconference format where individuals who are unable to attend town board meetings have an opportunity to listen in and/or address the board if one has the need to. The teleconference operation is all inclusion as some individuals do not have devices and aps that allow for other systems.
That said, this operation has several shortcomings that need address, or another operation chosen:
• Why is the number of callers limited to 50?
• The interruption and resulting distraction when callers are added to the meeting is annoying and should be eliminated.
• The caller’s identification is irrelevant. Attendees at regular town board meetings held at Lancaster’s Town Hall are not required to identify themselves by means of a sign-in sheet.
• Individuals are asked their names and addresses only when addressing the board at the beginning of the meeting when commenting on pre-files resolutions and at the end of the meeting at the general public comment session.
• Individuals addressing the board should be compelled to speak only on matters that affect the town – directly or indirectly.
As someone who had been attending town board meetings religiously near 20 years, but no longer able to, I appreciate this format. Gone are the years of visiting the Clerk’s Office, the Library or the Police Department to get information – often FOILING for the information and having to get copies or having to write the information down. It is all there now on the town website. And now, this format!
Kudos to Town Clerk Diane Terranova on her certification and accommodation. Well-deserved for her office performance and improvements and enhancements made to the town website under her management.
As of Friday night (5-8-2020)
Erie County
4,343 confirmed Covid-19 cases - an increase of 394 cases since Wednesday.
357 reported deaths – an increase of 34 cases since Wednesday.
55% of all confirmed Covid-19 deaths involved nursing home residents.
Lancaster
211 confirmed cases – an increase of 38 cases in the past week.
19 reported deaths Harris Hill Nursing Facility – an increase of 8 deaths in the past week.
All:
Like many of you, I'm sure, a lot of thoughts and questions have been swirling through my head while in "Quarantine".
The biggest is the role of local municipalities in the social distancing rules. I understand that a local town or village couldn't "open up" and usurp the state's orders in place but could they go further?
Every time I pass a supermarket, walmart or target, I am awestruck by the packed parking lots and wondering about the exposure everyone is getting. The governor is constantly reminding us that we use PPE and maintain social distancing to not only protect ourselves but also everyone else, since we could be asymptomatic carriers. So why doesn't a local government put restrictions on the number of people allowed inside EVERY business? Some home improvement stores are self-imposing a limitation of 50-100 people at a time but no one else is? I can go to Tops or Wegmans with literally hundreds of other people but the little gift shops in downtown Lancaster that would love to see 50 people in a day are somehow dangerous? If they wanted to truly stop the spread, wouldn't the state do more? And of course that leads to questions on the seriousness of this virus and the concern we should all have about contracting it.
As a serial entrepreneur. I'm not a big fan of government stepping in and forcing restrictive rules upon businesses but in the case of this health emergency, I can make an exception. I am as anxious as anyone to get things back to "normal" but it seems to me that the mass of humanity that is shopping at once will only continue to spread the virus.... and quickly.
Anyway, that's my musings for today.
Matt
The problem with this current NYS "Rule by Decree" world, is that it appears to offer no recourse to local municipalities.Originally Posted by MaddMatt
For that we can thank the New York State Legislature, which pooped its legislative pants and ceded full power to Governor Cuomo. I would especially like to thank the WNY REPUBLICAN delegation for its boot-licking contributions to this 2020 version of the Enabling Act.
It appears that Di Pietro is the only one that had the guts to salute Cuomo with a middle finger.
As to your question "could they (local municipalities) go further?," you got me Matt. That is why I have criticized Supervisor Ruffino for some of his rather "curious," if not bizarre remarks such as...
"Going to get a loaf of bread at the grocery store to me is no longer essential,” Ruffino said. April 8, 2020Lancaster Bee"Lancaster Police will issue tickets and fines to those who do not comply..." April 8, Lancaster Bee"WE will be punishing people not obeying this." Lancaster Sun, April 16, 2020Is there a way to trace callers?" Town Council Work Session, May 4, 2020
This is simply not a time for cute metaphor or careless comments. The Supervisor, in my opinion, needs to weigh his words more carefully and be very precise.
Simply put, he needs to stop the off-the hip comments and stop, whether intentionally or unintentionally, F****in' with our minds.
Matt, as I see things, this goes to a much broader concern.
The national powers-that-be, in my opinion, simply do not have a handle on the virus, other than its origin.
I am not convinced that the various mutations are not resultant from a weaponized man-made process, or, I must ask, is this sucker is just so naturally weird in terms of mutation that it is always two-steps ahead of science?
In any event, the way in which the Chinese Communist government handled its initial outbreak and containment, leads me to consider the possibility that the Communist Chinese government, post-natural outbreak, recognized it value as a bio-weapon, and used unrestricted international travel as a delivery system.
Stay safe Matt.
Last edited by mark blazejewski; May 11th, 2020 at 12:23 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
On Saturday, Wegman's Losson Rd was limiting the number of customers. They called on the PA Code Transit Rd when the number grew too high. They had to stand outside. One went out then one went in
Georgia L Schlager
Once again you are one messed up puppy!
I thought you don't leave the house anyway?
You harp on a few statements from weeks ago showing that you have nothing to pin on Ron.
Heck, seems to me you are sore because Cuomo, Poloncarz and Ruffino are just trying to save your life!
LOL
How would you know if I leave or don't not leave my house, and for what purpose? What is your source on that?
I know that Ruffino wants to TRACE TELEPHONE NUMBERS of callers into Council Sessions, but does he also have a network of spies operating like Lancaster Stasi, reporting if and when citizens leave their homes?
Nah "Bobby," I'm not trying to pin anything on him; he is already a jackass, aka donkey, with a tail pinned on it.
As for as his statements, they speak for themselves...
"Going to get a loaf of bread at the grocery store to me is no longer essential,” Ruffino said. April 8, 2020 "Lancaster Bee"
"Lancaster Police will issue tickets and fines to those who do not comply..." April 8, "Lancaster Bee.""WE will be punishing people not obeying this." Lancaster Sun, April 16, 2020
"Is there a way to trace callers?" Town Council Work Session, May 4, 2020
BTW, what you refer to as my "harping," is attached to this advise, which a reasonable person would consider sound...
Do you not agree that this is a time of crisis, and that those circumstance require steady and serious leadership with clear messaging?
Bear in mind, this is not one of your schemes to be applied to a primary for the Conservative or Independence line where well-intention people can be fed BS.
I have supported Cuomo and Poloncarz when appropriate, but have pointed-out my misgivings when I thought necessary.
Cuomo dropped the ball, my opinion of course, with his policy regarding the requirement for nursing homes regarding acceptance of Covid-19 positive patients. I have also criticized his "non-resuscitate" orders.
He has since withdrawn both orders.
Kind of sounds like he agreed that those policies were flawed, and in the case of the nursing homes, fatally flawed.
Polocarz deserves praise for tactfully standing-up to Cuomo in connection with the ventilators issue.
As far as Ruffino, many feel that he needs to give us the statistical information more meaningful to Lancaster regarding Covid-19's impact on our town.
Do not the people of this town have a right to know if the Lancaster "Pause" measures applied by the dancing Supervisor are in fact effective?
Nice exchanging with you Breezy. Stay safe and don't infect anyone with that big, blabbermouth of yours.
Last edited by mark blazejewski; May 11th, 2020 at 02:11 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
Mark, Cuomo left his “fatally flawed” nursing home order in place for 6 weeks. He has never acknowledged that it was flawed. In fact just yesterday, incredibly, he claimed it was a great success just before he reversed it! It left over 5000 nursing home patients dead. That’s 5% in New York’s nursing home population. It’s more deaths just in nursing homes than the total deaths incurred in each of 48 other states. His grotesque mismanagement of this since day one is the stuff of disasters.
Matt:
The omnipotent governor today declared we must be smart by practicing social distancing, wearing masks, and practicing good hygiene. To have public buy-in credible information must be disseminated.
You ask what the municipalities can do to further assist state mandates, if possible, and question the seriousness of the virus. Shouldn’t the residents of Lancaster, and every other municipality in Erie County, get information on how the virus is impacting their community to be able to make a sound decision on how they should be reacting to its ‘seriousness’?
Should we be satisfied with the Town Supervisor, the Emergency Management Coordinator, and the County Legislator answer that they are being stonewalled in getting anymore information than confirmed cases and nursing home deaths?
That mass of humanity shopping at once at grocery stores you refer is bothersome to someone who like me is aged and cannot walk or stand for any length of time. Tell me how I can plan to shop standing in line for any length of time?
Are those ‘little gift shops’ essential, Matt? Liquor stores, etc.?
While some households are wiping down their mail with sanitizing wipes, others cannot find or buy any. Should the town come to their rescue?
Gee, stay home and stay safe we are told. Refuse to go back to work the brain-dead AOC tells us. Retired that should be an easy task for a vulnerable like me with a compromised immune system, right? In the past three weeks I accompanied my wife while she made three Dr. visits, had a diagnostic test, and was hospitalized for a procedure.
Little thought is being given to the collateral damage imposed by this virus – the risks to essential workers and their immediate families, the individuals who lost their jobs, those that can’t afford Instacart, purchase take-out food, can’t visit, or too scared to visit Doctors and Dentist, devastation to our economy, etc.
And while we are being ‘mandared’ to follow guidelines, we can’t find out what the hell is going on in our town!
JUST MY OPINIONS:
The numbers you cite are staggering and you are right in calling Cuomo out Grump.
While I have tried, there is no sense in trying to communicate on this forum, in ways objectively supporting a common purpose.
To the Leftist serviteurs and laquais, such as the ultra-aroused boot-licker writing on post #51, "We are all in this together" is just a coded mantra for "Obey everything we say and do" and "Do not dare to question us."
More disgusting, those Leftist primadonnas and their surrogates, constantly appear to poison the objective world with a metaphoric slights of hands; a long litany of thinly veiled diversionary faints, to misdirect attention and focus from their mistakes and discredited policies. To add insult to sinfully imposed injury, they then become the ultimate practitioners of projection, and the premier distributors of horseshlt.
Furthermore, their mistakes and discredited policies, such as its obsessive embrace of open borders, notwithstanding, the Socialist/Communist/Leftist breed continues to advocate for a further expansion of such policies, even during the early phases of this pandemic. Shamefully, in the application of its rampage, it was, and remains, all about spin, demagoguery, and putting the best lying face on the historic calamity it has created. That consistent approach extends from Clinton to Pelosi to Cuomo to de Baliso to Barbot, who collectively, expect and insist, that we all swim joyfully in the cesspools of disease and danger that they, not the "xenophobic" Trump, have created.
Equally, that goes for the local custodian of Leftist crapolla, Ruffino.
Every one of what I consider to be his stupid, and I dare say, control-freak, dictatorial comments, delivered to the exclusion of statistical information, vital to the public's assessment of the effectiveness of his Lancaster "Pause" edicts, orders, and hand-ringing blather, always appear to be faithfully attributed to "out of context" interpretations, and/or seemingly styled unworthy of clarification or query, just my opinion of course.
How is "Going to get a loaf of bread at the grocery store to me is no longer essential,” taken out of context when the subject is the implementation and enforcement of the "Pause?"
IMHO, in this current crisis, talking out of one's ass is not great attribute in such a town official; it serves only to stink-up the field; a tragic field littered with dead, dying and Covid-19 afflicted citizens.
Thanks for the refocus Grump.
Last edited by mark blazejewski; May 11th, 2020 at 06:04 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
Seriously Breezy?
Sounds kind of familiar...
Adolf Hitler: "You don't have to understand me. You only have to obey!"
Last edited by mark blazejewski; May 11th, 2020 at 06:57 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
I thank the individual who sent this to me today. It very well exemplifies what is happening to ‘essential workers’ by some in the public who just plain don’t give a **** about anything but themselves. It is befitting after hearing from an individual who visited the Walmart store on Walden Avenue today and found approximately 50% of the cliental not wearing masks
Hi. essential worker here.
I work at a gas station in the area that has implemented the mandatory mask policy that most of Erie County follows. the amount of abuse, harassment, and disrespect I have received due to me trying to enforce this policy (because it is my JOB) is insane.
Stop. please stop. it's not optional. it's not a "rights" issue. if you want to go into our stores, put a bandana or a t-shirt or mask over your mouth and nose during the few minutes you're in the store. It's very easy. It's not a big deal. Don't argue with me. Don't force your views in my face. Don't say "you can't make me" and force me to have you removed. Don't complain about how stuffy the mask is and how much this is "b*ll****."
You have to wear it for one or two minutes; I have to wear it all 8 hours of my shift. I have asthma and I still do it. you can too. Don't shout at me. Don't go into rants about our governor. Don't ramble about your conspiracy theories about how it's all a hoax. Don't call me names and slurs and cuss at me under your breath.
I'm just a human being, like you, trying to enforce a policy for everyone's safety, because it's my job. That's all. I’m a HUMAN BEING. please treat me like one. I don't care if you disagree, you're entitled to your opinion, but I really don't want to hear it. it changes nothing. It's still a policy I have to enforce. if wearing a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose for thirty seconds bothers you THAT much, don't come in.
I’m a 20-year-old making minimum wage, just trying to pay my bills and save for college... I would literally be making more if I were at home with unemployment right now, and that's not an exaggeration. I am being treated like this for almost nothing. the amount of abuse I have received over the past month, nearly every HOUR, is insane. this shouldn't be happening.
I spent the last hour of my shift in the bathroom crying after a particularly nasty individual, and this isn't the first time. it is just wrong. I shouldn't have to deal with this. I shouldn't be treated like this. this is just a plea, me hoping that I can get through to some people and make them see me as a person. I really hope it does something. stay safe everyone. everything will be reopening soon; masks will still probably be mandatory for another few months, but that is why I’m writing this. It is REALLY not that big of a deal. please just wear one and be kind to essential workers. we are just doing our jobs. we are keeping these stores open for YOU. thank you.
Central and Walden (Lancaster)
‘Stay smart’, says the governor! Right!
Totally agree with who ever wrote this. It's no biggie. Plus you are going on someone's property so you should respect what that property owner asks of you.Stop. please stop. it's not optional. it's not a "rights" issue. if you want to go into our stores, put a bandana or a t-shirt or mask over your mouth and nose during the few minutes you're in the store. It's very easy. It's not a big deal. Don't argue with me. Don't force your views in my face. Don't say "you can't make me" and force me to have you removed. Don't complain about how stuffy the mask is and how much this is "b*ll****."
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WNY, if the property owner told you to disrobe before going on their property would you do it because it’s their property? And it’s ok for the store owner to force his views on his customers? *******’s executive order says to wear a mask when social distancing can’t be maintained. It doesn’t say that everyone has to wear a mask
every time they enter a store. This person sounds like the jerk offs on our local sports talk station who a few weeks ago were saying that those complaining about losing their jobs should stop complaining and do their part because they were tired of listening to the complaining . If I’d had the time I would’ve called in and asked them what makes sports talk “essential” in a time when there are no sports to talk about. If that person can’t handle the job there’s always unemployment and the complainant wouldn’t have to suffer through working for minimum wage. It’s hard to have respect for orders from a governor whose whole family routinely violates those orders or a county executive who spends his time posting about his hairdo. As for Il Douches statement that we have to maintain ‘good hygiene” I’ll leave to others to check the hygiene of him and his scuzzball brother.
Last edited by grump; May 11th, 2020 at 10:35 PM.
There lies the problem, Grump. Is Cuomo’s mask wearing mandate in group situations enforceable? If so, why are municipalities not enforcing the mandate?
Grocery stores that initially declared that they were not going to turn customers away not wearing a mask now require their customers, as well as their staff, to wear masks.
What is the Lancaster’s position on this? Supervisor Ruffino declared he and his police chief were going to enforce state regulations. Have they? Silence on the part of the town and town media. What’s going on in my town?
Lastly, as I have the right to choose where to shop, I believe at this time businesses can choose to follow the state mask mandate. I would follow common sense and choose the businesses that have established a policy where mask wearing was a requisite – for the health protection of others as well as myself. Common sense, IMHO. But as is now often said, common sense is dead.
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