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Thread: The Town "Dumping" Issue: "A Political Ploy," Seriously?

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    The Town "Dumping" Issue: "A Political Ploy," Seriously?

    Board votes to grind, remove brush from town dump

    August 05, 2021
    by MARIA PERICOZZI Editor


    The Lancaster Town Board voted to hire a company to grind and remove brush material from the town’s dump site, 6219 Genesee St., at Monday’s meeting.


    The resolution approved is for Zoladz Construction Co. Inc. to grind and remove brush material at the site for a cost not to exceed $22,500.


    At every meeting since May, residents have brought up the topic of alleged illegal dumping at the dump site.


    During the work session, Council Member Bob Leary requested that the resolution be tabled until a “fact-finding investigation” is completed. He said they need to find out who has been dumping and how much they have dumped in the site.


    According to Leary, the District Attorney’s Office is not going to proceed with an investigation into the matter. The town has not started its own investigation yet because Leary said he did not want to interfere with the DA’s office.


    “Since that’s been done and that’s come to an end, now it’s the responsibility of the town board to do something,” Leary said. “When residents come forward in this town, or town employees come forward in this town with allegations of inappropriate activity, it’s the town board’s responsibility to look into it.”


    The resolution to grind and remove brush was not tabled and passed with a 3-2 vote. Council members Adam Dickman and Leary voted no to the resolution, and council members Michael Wozniak and Dave Mazur and Supervisor Ronald Ruffino Sr. voted yes.


    Wozniak said tabling the resolution would delay the inevitable, because the brush would need to be ground and removed anyway.


    During the work session, HighwaySuperintendent Dan Amatura said Leary and Dickman have not contacted him to inquire about the allegations.


    “This is all a political ploy,” Amatura said, adding that elections for his position are coming up in November. He also asked if the investigation will be done now or if they are waiting until November. “If you would’ve got a better candidate for highway superintendent, you wouldn’t have to try to make me look bad.”


    Amatura said the gate has been locked since May and only opened for highway crews. He said he has a list of when and how many loads were dumped there from the Highway Department.


    The next Lancaster Town Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, at Town Hall, 21 Central Ave.

    Reference: https://www.lancasterbee.com/article...rom-town-dump/
    Just My Opinion:

    This comment, IMHO, appears to be rather bizarre...

    “If you would’ve got a better candidate for highway superintendent, you wouldn’t have to try to make me look bad.”
    I understand these to be the 2021 Conservative and Republican Primary election returns for Lancaster Town Highway Superintendent:

    Conservative Primary

    Amatura 241

    Pilato 332


    Republican Primary

    Amatura 609

    Pilato 1274


    Does it not seem appropriate to ask "Does Mr. Amatura need to improve his math skills?"
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 5th, 2021 at 10:42 AM.
    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?"

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    From the August 2, 2021 Town Council Work Session...

    https://www.facebook.com/92467137429...90087475010184

    ...and the Town Council Regular Session...

    https://soundcloud.com/user-329292372/2021-08-02-tbm
    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?"

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    Mark it is time for some fresh eyes and new ideas. Danny should retire for goodness sakes....give it up...

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shortstuff View Post
    Mark it is time for some fresh eyes and new ideas. Danny should retire for goodness sakes....give it up...
    Just My Understandings and Opinions:

    During the February 3, 2020 Town Council Work Session, he, as I understand the events of the meeting, seemingly hijacked the proceedings with what I consider to have been some rather vulgar language and an inappropriate admonishment to the presiding Supervisor: "Ronnie, get to work and get the agenda going."

    Since that time, I have become more and more troubled by the public displays of his rather unique temperament shortstuff.

    The Lancaster voters this year have an opportunity to replace him with an actor who along with strong qualifications for the position, holds a polite, calming, kind, and thoughtful temperament.

    In my opinion, John Pilato will bring a fresh approach to the position in that he will respectfully consider the concerns of all residents, promote a respectful work environment, and restore full public confidence in the office.

    That choice now resides with the collective wisdom of the Lancaster voters shortstuff.
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 5th, 2021 at 01:15 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?"

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    Highway Superintendent Dan Amatura is claiming Councilmember Bob Leary and former Republican Party Chair Greg Sojka are playing party politics in falsely accusing him of inappropriateness in allowing favored commercial enterprises to dump materials in the Genesee dump site. The illegal dumping cost town taxpayers over $100,000 to have the debris removed.

    Mr. Leary claims it is within his purview to investigate allegations of inappropriate actions that waste taxpayer money. Mr. Sojka handed over pictures at the recent board meeting depicting several commercial tree removal companies dumping material in the town dump – contractors bringing in materials cut down outside Lancaster town limits.

    Politics indeed! Everything is about politics. Mr. Amatura knows this. He has been a good Highway Superintendent in getting the job done. Politically, he has recently angered residents in seeking endorsements from Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Working Family Parties. What is wrong with that? Well nothing except he changed party affiliation from Democrat to Conservative (after seeking and denied Conservative Party endorsement) to challenge John Pilato the endorsed candidate. He lost the primary challenge.

    He interviewed and won the Republican Party endorsement while claiming conservative values. Amatura was handily defeated in the primary by John Pilato. So when Amatura now claims there is a political witch-hunt to discredit him because his opponent is weak – (the same candidate who defeated him on two party lines in the primary), one has to wonder who the weak candidate is.

    Amatura is endorsed by the ultra- liberal Working Family Party. He accepted the endorsement.

    Amatura should have run solely on the Democrat line. He would have won – IMHO, He bought into the double-dealing cross endorsement scheme and all its machinations contrived by the Lancaster Democrat and Republican Party bosses to usurp all party lines and silence voter free choice.

    The cross-endorsing strategy was a failure in that no candidate endorsed by the Republican Party, or candidate primarying the Conservative Party endorsed candidate won. It must bother voters when a candidate is willing to sell himself as one having values running the gambit from conservative to ultra- liberal.

    The political system is broken in Lancaster and open for change!

  6. #6
    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Chowaniec View Post
    Politics indeed! Everything is about politics. Mr. Amatura knows this.
    When considering the broad universe of politics, there are two basic political worlds: The world of party politics and the world of government and public affairs.

    My commentaries and very limited involvement in the world of party politics are based on the latter and not the former, and are undertaken in the spirit of these words uttered by Republican Presidential Nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952:

    "An American doesn't twiddle his thumbs while his garden is wrecked by a crowd of vandals and his house invaded by a gang of robbers. He goes into action. When the same thing happens to his country, he goes into action by getting into politics, fast and hard. I'm in politics just that way."
    Just My Opinion:

    In the comments related in the Bee article, Mr. Amatura apparently attempted to fuse both political worlds together in order to reflect the strict motivations of the less virtuous world of party politics.

    While I do not presume to speak for anyone other than myself, in the matter of "dumping" on town properties, it is clear to me that the expressed concerns are based on principles arising out of the world of public affairs. Those concerns, IMHO, are legitimate and worthy of further deliberation and pursuit.

    Regrettably, in my opinion, Mr. Amatura may view those expressed concerns strictly through the prism of personal embarrassment, vis-à-vis exposure in the world of party politics.

    Therefore, I believe that his collective comments, at times expressed crudely, attending his thematic claim of a "political ploy," were thin attempts to desperately discredit the messengers.

    In that connection, his insertion of claims of strict party politics into an otherwise ethics-based conversation, seem to indicate Mr. Amatura has undertaken a self-serving track of defense; an unprincipled pleading applied in order to preserve his own political interests, to the substantial exclusion of true ethical remediation.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Chowaniec View Post
    He bought into the double-dealing cross endorsement scheme and all its machinations contrived by the Lancaster Democrat and Republican Party bosses to usurp all party lines and silence voter free choice.
    That was an audacious attempt to manipulate a Lancaster election, and was undertaken without regard to the choice interests of the Lancaster residents.
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 6th, 2021 at 10:46 AM.
    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?"

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    He said he has a list of when and how many loads were dumped there from the Highway Department.
    Just My Understandings and Opinions:

    At the May 17, 2021 Town Council Regular Session, Councilman Leary asked Highway Superintendent at least two times if the Highway Superintendent had "a list" of those private contractors who were permitted to dump debris on town properties.

    In response, why is it that Superintendent Amatura referred to a possible need for camera surveillance, the impracticality of his ability to personally supervise the site, the cost inefficiency of assigning personnel to monitor the site, and challenged the Town Council to take clarifying action that night, but as I understand the audio record of the meeting, never directly answered the Councilman's question?

    Does it not seem that Amatura's August 5, 2021 Bee comments, taken at face value, seemingly indicate that lists exist of Highway Department activity on the site, but those words, perhaps relevant only to the post-May 17, 2021 period, still fail to address Councilman Leary's original full query regarding a comprehensive list of the activity of all actors?

    How about answering the original Leary question of May 17, 2021 Mr. Amatura?

    Reference, Lancaster Town Council session, August 5, 2021, the 43:00 minute mark on this link:

    https://soundcloud.com/user-32929237...0GJDg7jzE3YjZI
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 6th, 2021 at 05:45 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?"

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Correction To Post #7...

    Quote Originally Posted by mark blazejewski View Post
    Reference, Lancaster Town Council session, August 5, 2021, the 43:00 minute mark on this link:

    https://soundcloud.com/user-32929237...0GJDg7jzE3YjZI
    ...should read...

    Reference, Lancaster Town Council session, May 17, 2021, the 43:00 minute mark on this link:

    https://soundcloud.com/user-32929237...0GJDg7jzE3YjZI
    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?"

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Yep, Ruffino has his "three votes"...

    During the work session, Council Member Bob Leary requested that the resolution be tabled until a “fact-finding investigation” is completed. He said they need to find out who has been dumping and how much they have dumped in the site...

    ...now it’s the responsibility of the town board to do something,” Leary said. “When residents come forward in this town, or town employees come forward in this town with allegations of inappropriate activity, it’s the town board’s responsibility to look into it.”

    The resolution to grind and remove brush was not tabled and passed with a 3-2 vote. Council members Adam Dickman and Leary voted no to the resolution, and council members Michael Wozniak and Dave Mazur and Supervisor Ronald Ruffino Sr. voted yes.


    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 7th, 2021 at 08:39 AM.
    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?"

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    At every meeting since May, residents have brought up the topic of alleged illegal dumping at the dump site...

    During the work session, Highway Superintendent Dan Amatura said
    Leary and Dickman have not contacted him to inquire about the allegations.
    Just Some Questions?

    What is that all about?

    Does Amatura pay attention during the Town Council Sessions?

    Did not Councilman Leary respond immediately to constituent concerns expressed during the Public Participation session on May 17 when he queried Superintendent Amatura that very night?

    "Councilman Bob Leary asked who was overseeing the dump site, and what the process was for allowing individuals to dump there."
    Reference: https://www.lancasterbee.com/article...umping-debris/

    During that meeting, did not Mr. Amatura suggest that Councilman Leary never "called," I believe was the term that was used, regarding the issue?

    Why would Councilman Leary have confronted Mr. Amatura regarding a previously-unexpressed issue?

    Furthermore, did not Councilman Leary on May 17, 2021 question Mr. Amatura about the retention and existence of any possible "list" of patrons using the dump site?

    Reference: https://soundcloud.com/user-32929237...0GJDg7jzE3YjZI

    Did not Mr. Amatura permit the question concerning a "list" to twice go unanswered?

    To close, I am curious to know what information would Councilman Leary have acquired in a less-than-transparent private communication with Mr. Amatura, that was not communicated during the transparent public exchange which occurred during the Town Council session of May 17, 2021?

    Just To Muse:

    Does any state or perhaps county entity such as the DEC or the ECDH require the retention of any such list of those dumping debris on publicly-owned properties?
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; August 9th, 2021 at 11:16 AM.
    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?"

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    I had thought that the the town dump gates were to be kept locked so others couldn't dump yard debris etc in there.
    The gates were open when I drove by at 4:30pm today and upon returning from Newstead at 6:15pm, the gates were still wide open.

    Guess, it depends on whom the highway superintendent is on whether the gate locking rule should be followed, eh?

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gorja View Post
    I had thought that the the town dump gates were to be kept locked so others couldn't dump yard debris etc in there.
    The gates were open when I drove by at 4:30pm today and upon returning from Newstead at 6:15pm, the gates were still wide open.

    Guess, it depends on whom the highway superintendent is on whether the gate locking rule should be followed, eh?
    Gorja, I came back up to Speak Up ONLY to speak to the BLR Airport issue, but I will address your comments since you resurrected my thread.

    Thank you for bringing the issue to public attention. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, no matter who is the Highway Superintendent.

    (Maybe the gates were left in that condition due to a legitimate, extraordinary circumstance, but that remains to be determined, eh?)

    Nevertheless, if your allegations are fully true and accurate, perhaps you may wish to bring your concerns to the Town Board, so as to make sure that the alleged behavior is not repeated in the future?

    I certainly would have no problem(s) with such an expression of concern or query, because like I stated above, right is right, and wrong is wrong.
    Last edited by mark blazejewski; September 28th, 2023 at 09:09 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?"

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    Quote Originally Posted by mark blazejewski View Post
    Gorja, I came back up to Speak Up ONLY to speak to the BLR Airport issue, but I will address your comments since you resurrected my thread.

    Thank you for bringing the issue to public attention. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, no matter who is the Highway Superintendent.

    (Maybe the gates were left in that condition due to a legitimate, extraordinary circumstance, but that remains to be determined, eh?)

    Nevertheless, if your allegations are fully true and accurate, perhaps you may wish to bring your concerns to the Town Board, so as to make sure that the alleged behavior is not repeated in the future?

    I certainly would have no problem(s) with such an expression of concern or query, because like I stated above, right is right, and wrong is wrong.
    Thank you for your response Mark. Traffic was light and I happened to look to check the site out. I made it a point to check on my way home. I was surprised to see it that way.
    Maybe, there is cameras there now. My dog has classes on Monday and Friday evenings in Lancaster and Thursday afternoons in Newstead.. So, town board meeting night is a review on youtube for me.

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Last week, it was all locked up. This is tonight at 6:18pm

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Member mark blazejewski's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gorja View Post
    Last week, it was all locked up. This is tonight at 6:18pm
    Maybe the gates were left open to accommodate a VOL search for a discarded contract proposal?

    Click On Image To Enlarge:

    Last edited by mark blazejewski; October 19th, 2023 at 08:01 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?"

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