Also at BlogJosh.

I first spoke with Joan Jett in July of 2003. It was a quickie – even as quickies go: she was hiding in an airport, not wanting to draw attention, and willing to fulfill the interview her label's management had promised me. They gave me 10 minutes; I got her on her way in seven.

Looking back on the interview (done for a now-defunct publication I was editing for Reminder Publications), so much of what she said really hasn't changed. The record industry was hurting, illegal downloading was (in her words) "really screwed up," and she wasn't hearing much new music she liked – except a band called The Vacancies.

Angela and I got a little face time with Jett last night at the state fair, before being joined by Kristen and Rebecca, watching the show from backstage. I'll get back to Jett in a moment, but I spoke to Julie Rader, a member of Blackheart Records' management team, and she talked about the impending death of major labels, piracy, and noted that Jett (with her band, the Blackearts) will be playing with The Vacancies in the fall.

There were some things I would have loved to have gotten to in that 2003 interview, but didn't get a chance to. Now, three years later, I had a couple of minutes. But instead, really got into things that I wouldn't even have thought about. And it didn't feel like an interview, it wasn't set up as such, but I definitely am not in the category of the fan who shakes the rock star's hand and says, "ooh! I love your work."

I do love her work, but I don't feel the need to burden her with that – I'm sure she's got plenty of fans who let her know. So I made small talk. And I unexpectedly hit on something I wouldn't have thought to ask about: Fame.

"Have you had a chance to check out the fair at all?"

Well, no, she hadn't. She grew up with fairs, she loves fairs, but she just wouldn't be able to handle it out there.

The band had just finished the Warped Tour. And while everyone probably knew who she was – she definitely reaches people of all ages – she was able to ride her bike from tent to tent and to the stage and around and no one bother her.

At the fair, she said, she'd be surrounded, mobbed, and wouldn't be able to move. There's no fun in it.

Which is a shame, really, but she's clearly not having a problem with her fame.

I used to pity people who were known best for a few songs they did 25 years ago. How many times do you think Van Morrison has sung "Brown-Eyed Girl" in his lifetime? Moxy Früvous got so sick of doing "King of Spain" they turned it into a power ballad – and they didn't even last that long.

But looking out on the Cheverolet Court at a couple of thousand people waving their fists in the air and screaming, "Oh yeah!" during "Do You Wanna Touch Me" as the band just clapped out a rhythm, I realized that reaction could never get old. [Aside: Ain't it a great thing that she managed to be the one known for that song, now that Gary Glitter's rotting in jail for molesting 12 year olds?]

Kurt Cobain was a fool.

Jett – and guitarist Dougie Needles, as well – might be fooling nature with their bodies. Jett will be 48 in a few weeks; Needles has to be close. But they're both still bounding around the stage like they're 23.

But as Jett's aged, she's matured. She still has every little bit of energy she ever had – or at least her stage persona does – but her songs have evolved from rebellion to revolution. She'll always be shouting, "Don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" from on stage, but she's not really doing teen angst anymore.

No almost-48-year-old should be.

The new album, Sinner, launches with a piece of brilliance called "Riddles," a hard-hitting anti-war tune, complete with audio of Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush blathering on. It did well at the early show, but at the later show last night, it got a little bit of a cooler reception (this is a very red area, despite the blue showing the city of Syracuse generally has).

It's smart, it's effective, and it's not the only one on Sinner that's like that.

It's not entirely a political CD, but there are definitely undertones throughout. In the 2003 interview, we didn't get to talk politics – we started, but she said she'd spend all day, and there was, of course, a plane to catch.

Now that I've heard the disc, I'd love to get more into how Warped went – so many young minds to teach.

And fortunately, Jett shows no signs of slowing down. Her tour schedule (check the web site) has her doing 21 shows in 37 days between Oct. 12 and Nov. 19 – going from Philadelphia to San Francisco and all the way back to Atlanta in just over a month. And I wouldn't be surprise if other shows are added in the meantime.

I've babbled long enough. Get out there, support independent music. Buy the records. Listen to the words. You'll learn something along the way.

Next up: Ember Swift and Lyndell Montgomery at Jazz Central Saturday night. Musically, does one have a better week than this?

The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) has given interested parties notice that intends to ask an appellate court to lift a stay holding up construction on the mall expansion.

The stay was put in place because 12 of the mall's current stores have leases that require management to run expansions by the stores. Rather than do that, the mall's owner, Pyramid, asked SIDA to take the leases by eminent domain. The agency – a board appointed by the mayor – agreed.

The stores – which include the likes of JC Penney, Lord & Taylor, Kaufmann's (which will by Macy's next month), Circuit City, CompUSA, Borders, Bon Ton, H&M and others, haven't come out against the expansion. They simply want to negotiate with their landlord.

David Aitken, an executive at Pyramid subsidiary Destiny, tells the P-S the company is negotiating with the stores. Federated, which owns L&T and Kaufmann's – and leases more space than anyone else in the mall – calls bullshit:

"We have had no further discussions with Pyramid which advance our concerns related to the loss of our rights at the Kaufmann's and Lord & Taylor stores or the expansion of Carousel Center," said Sharon Bateman, operating vice president for Federated.

But wait – there's more!

A little catch-up in case you missed it.

For this eminent domain taking to happen, an agreement was reached between Pyramid, the mayor and the county executive. It needed the approval of the city's common council, the county legislature and SIDA. When the council voted it down, a new agreement was reached that excluded them from the chain of inclusion.

But there were some, er, shenanigans with the "meeting" during which SIDA approved the second agreement. Various members approved it in separate locations so that they didn't come together as a quorum. And one of the SIDA members, Terry Bright, who was removed from the board later that same day, didn't get prior notice of the meeting (rather, the mayor came to her house that day, and left a notice on her dining room table while she wasn't looking). And the public wasn't notified of what probably had to be a public meeting.

The state Committee on Open Government has rendered an opinion on the meeting: It might have been illegal, and if it was, the action taken at the meeting would be void. So, that might explain why SIDA can't wait two weeks for the stores' hearings, scheduled for Sept. 14.

When a decision is reached in the stores' complaint, the stay will be lifted (unless Pyramid's required to negotiate in good faith with its tenants, but how dare we hope for good faith negotiations with this crowd?).

Another thing that might also have been illegal? The councilors who voted against the first agreement were in a room for a couple of minutes before the meeting at which they voted it down, and they closed the door. Because there were six of them (enough for a quorum), it might have been considered a separate meeting, and since it wasn't posted, it would have been an improper meeting.

There is, of course, no way to know what was discussed at that meeting, though since no official action was taken, nothing can be voided.

You can read COG's opinions on both cases here [if you're using a browser other than IE, search on the page for "Freeman looks at meetings"].

What if...?

What happens if SIDA takes the stores' leases by eminent domain, and the stores decide to pull out of the mall? If the landlord isn't held to the leases, the stores can't be either. And if some of the mall's biggest stores – including both anchors – pull out, (a) other tenants are likely to follow, and (b) what stores would even consider coming to the existing mall, never mind a giant expansion?

In our ongoing coverage of the drama surrounding the Inner Harbor...

The P-S reports that Destiny has big plans for the harbor – and that they submitted an environmental assessment.

But no one's talking about whether they've put a down-payment on the land, which means, probably not.

No one's talking about the details of the meeting Destiny lawyers had with the Canal Corporation, either, so hopefully we'll hear something on that soon.

Meanwhile, columnist Dick Case is back on the, er, case, and the headline says it all: Inner Harbor needs new developer. Yes, it does.

If you want to see the Inner Harbor in action, pop in tomorrow for VegFest 2006.

During the picnic with the mayor at the end of July, we noted that the biggest growth in business in the city was small businesses, most of them women- and minority-owned.

Great news.

And not only is it great news for Syracuse, it's not even unique to the area. USA Today has a piece about the national trend of minority women starting their own businesses. Awesome!

Jill does note, however, that much like in the corporate world, where women frequently earn less than men for doing the same work, minority-run businesses owned by women take in less revenue than those owned by men.

What I'm not sure of, of course, is if that trend has anything to do with the varying industries in which women and men may choose to start businesses, but I'm betting that even across similar industries, those numbers hold up.

USAT article via Broadsheet.

During the picnic with the mayor at the end of July, we noted that the biggest growth in business in the city was small businesses, most of them women- and minority-owned.

Great news.

And not only is it great news for Syracuse, it's not even unique to the area. USA Today has a piece about the national trend of minority women starting their own businesses. Awesome!

Jill does note, however, that much like in the corporate world, where women frequently earn less than men for doing the same work, minority-run businesses owned by women take in less revenue than those owned by men.

What I'm not sure of, of course, is if that trend has anything to do with the varying industries in which women and men may choose to start businesses, but I'm betting that even across similar industries, those numbers hold up.

USAT article via Broadsheet.

Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll
City Hall
233 E. Washington St.
Syracuse, NY 13202

Mayor Driscoll:

I'd like to say congratulations on your recent court victory over the Common Council, but I if I did, it wouldn't be entirely honest of me. I disagree with your views on the mall expansion settlement. But I believe that reasonable people can disagree.

What really smells rotten here is the revised settlement agreement you reached with Pyramid Management Group officials that bypassed the Council.

Let's do a quick review of grade school civics, shall we? At the federal level, we have three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is headed by the president, a person who is elected and then appoints most of the rest of the branch (the vice president is also elected). The legislative branch is composed of the Congress, which is also elected. The judicial branch is appointed by the executive branch and approved by the legislative.

City government, for the most part, mirrors the federal government, except for the judicial branch, which isn't a part of city government. The mayor, who is elected, heads the executive branch; the Common Council comprises the elected legislative branch.

There are, then, two bodies elected by the people who are to work together in representing those who elected them. If they can't reach an agreement, they work toward compromise.

Normally, when two parties are going to attempt to reach agreement on something, let's say a legal settlement, they work together on something they're both comfortable with. It's unusual for one party to draft the agreement and expect the other to agree to it, without having had any input.

It came as a surprise to me that you were shocked – shocked – that the Common Council would have voted down an agreement into which they'd had no input.

And so you did what anyone who just wanted to get the thing done would do: You cut them out of it altogether.

I don't want to pretend that this is on the same level, but what we call the Vietnam War, was not a war. It was a police action. The president does not have the authority to declare war without the consent of the Congress, and neither Johnson nor Nixon sought that consent. They listened to their appointed boards.

Much like you've done with your recent political maneuvering on the settlement agreement. If the president only had to go to the Department of State, which he appoints, to get approval on his desired actions, there would be no point to electing – and paying – members of the Congress. Nor would there be a point in calling the president, "president," because at that point, he'd be an elected dictator, until one day, someone decided to get rid of elections.

I'll say it again: I believe reasonable people can disagree on matters of opinion. But what you've done is betray the trust of not only the electorate, but also of an elected board you still have to work with for three more years. Please include them in your future plans for the City of Syracuse.

Yours,
Joshua N. Shear

An appellate court today denied the Common Council's to continue an appeal of a decision that a private mall expansion is a public project [story update].

The decision (PDF) is brief, and basically says that the Council has no authority to litigate on behalf of the city.

Let's review what happened here. The city sued the owner of the Carousel Center and lost. The city appealed, but negotiated a settlement that required the approval of the mayor (elected), the county legislature (elected), the Common Council (elected) and the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA – a board appointed by the mayor).

The mayor, having negotiated the deal, approved it. SIDA rubber-stamped it, as anyone who could be fired for going against the mayor would have. The County Legislature, for the first time since I've been here, said, "this is a city matter, we'll support the city's decision." The Common Council did not approve the deal.

So, the mayor drafted a new deal, which didn't require the Common Council's approval. He went behind the back of an elected board, met with SIDA members individually so they didn't have to post a public meeting and got their approval, and then rushed it onto the County Legislature's agenda – and they approved it, against their prior announcement.

I'm generally pretty rational about things, and can reasonably disagree with someone. But the mayor broke the public trust. He went behind the backs of the members of an elected council, and even those who agree with the mayor in principle on this issue should be angry as hell. The mayor has already proven to me that he doesn't value his constituents' input.

Common Councilor Stephanie Miner told the newspaper she doesn't know if there's a next step, but at the very least, we can all let the mayor know that he needs to listen to the people who pay him once in a while. You can reach him at:

Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll
City Hall
233 E. Washington St.
Syracuse, NY 13202

I'll be writing a letter this weekend, and I'll post it here for you to draw from.

And let's remember to call this what it is: A mall expansion. This is not DestiNY USA, the proposed massive development without design plans, rights-of-way or approvals that the owners think will create $5.1 billion in salaries for CNY residents.

Jill points us to a piece on North Carolina's Research Triangle – a 13-county region that encompasses Duke University, NC State, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

The secret to the Triangle's success is a lot different from what some people are envisioning here in Central New York.

First, let's get it out there: The Research Triangle is nothing like any other area in the U.S. You pick any given area in the U.S., you'll find that about between 20 and 30 percent of the residents have a college degree. In that area, the number falls somewhere around 70 percent. [They also happen to have a really great progressive blog.]

But that doesn't mean it's not competing with other areas in the same way we are.

Over the past 50 years, the Triangle has seen a significant drop in manufacturing, and has realized it needs to start looking elsewhere (this is being driven home even more here, as Deluxe announced today it's closing its call center).

What the Triangle is doing: Luring businesses with tax breaks.

What the Triangle is not doing: Shopping for a cure-all. Or a shopping mall.

More specifically, what the Triangle is doing right is creating development and training, and working with its universities.

There's also the realization that competition for development is global:

A first step was to develop a coordinated strategy for the entire region. Previously, each of the 13 counties in the Triangle region essentially competed against one another for investment with its own economic development agency and strategy. "Now we have one overarching strategy that all 13 countries have bought into," says [Research Triangle Regional Partnership CEO Charles] Hayes, who, before joining the Research Triangle Partnership 10 years ago, led one of those county agencies.

Several counties now even share the same tax base. "None of them sell their counties anymore. They sell the region. We have come to grips with the idea that before County X beats County Y, we had better make sure that project doesn't go to Austin, San Diego, or Singapore," Hayes says.

We have disagreement on some issues between even county government and city government (think the proposed Armory Square sewage plant); we need to get everybody on the same page with development. And if we could get Utica, Rochester, Ithaca, Oswego and Syracuse all selling Central New York in an effort to bring realistic development to the area – including sharing in the economic benefits – wow, we'd be right up there with the Triangle.

Instructions for mayors. Hypothetical mayors, of course.

Do:
When a constituent writes you a letter, have an aide type up an acknowledgement that includes some kind of hint that someone's read the letter. Take the four seconds to sign the letter yourself. Even the head of your Industrial Development Agency took the time to personalize a response, actually touching on a concern your constituent brought up. Hypothetically, of course.

Don't:
Collect addresses at an official gathering, then send a form letter with a stamped signature that says, "I appreciate your input." You've already made it clear that you don't. Hypothetically, of course.

Yesterday, we wrote about Destiny USA's failure to meet the New York State Canal Corp.'s deadline for putting a down payment on Syracuse's Inner Harbor.

Canal Corp. head Carmella Mantello has agreed to have a sit-down with Destiny execs to talk about the whole thing, but I hope no one involved with that meeting expects the harbor will always be open to Destiny. Sutton Companies would probably do a fine job managing the harbor, and while their vision is different than mine – they see primarily residential, while I see more of a commercial, educational and recreational opportunity – I'm definitely OK with them taking the ball and running with it.

If they were to hand the Canal Corp. a check first thing Monday morning for the $1.8 million it required Destiny to pay, I don't see how Mantello could say no.

And local columnist Dick Case today has a couple of suggestions:

• Bring the mayor in on the project.
• Let Sutton have a go.
• Tell the folks at Destiny the ship has sailed.
• When real entrepreneurs want to see fulfillment on a project, they don't have meetings, they write the check.

Point A: I'm not in a position to trust the mayor much right now. He's been reworking the way civil government is supposed to work, and even if you think his views are correct on the mall expansion (I don't), you have to admit that his methods aren't what they should be. I was underwhelmed with the way he handled a crowd and didn't seem to understand half the questions (including one from a man who works sun-up to sun-down, and just wanted to not have a ticket on his car every day, since he can't switch which side of the road his car is parked on at dinner time, as he's at work).

Point B: Amen. While my initial impression of Sutton was not a good one – they bought the building I was living in and were nothing like the landlord they had bought from – I know from subsequent dealings with them and seeing them in action that while they may not be caring and generous, they can get things done and done well.

Point C: I don't think there's a better way to say that.

Point D: Having worked in an entrepreneurship department, I can vouch for that. Academically, even. And, as Jill Hurst-Wahl, herself an entrepreneur, noted in a comment on this blog, "DestiNY is not currently creating jobs, but hundreds of small businesses are."

That all said, I'm planning to spend much of the afternoon in the grass at the harbor with a trashy detective novel. Because really, what's the point of having such a gorgeous area right down the street if you're not going to absorb it?

What I wouldn't give for $2 million cash-on-hand and another $18 million in financing.

The folks at Destiny USA failed to meet a deadline yesterday for putting a $1.8 million down-payment on 36 acres at the Inner Harbor. That's 10% of the purchase price they agreed to as part of a $230 million development proposal.

Destiny became the preferred developer in 2002 after the Canal Corp., which owns the harbor, put out a RFP. Earlier this year, the Canal Corp. told them to poop or get off the pot, or the Canal Corp. was going to use a different rest room.

The Canal Corp. held off until the harbor has been used successfully for a number of events this summer, and two weeks ago demanded a down-payment from Destiny by the 10th, which was yesterday.

Rather than send a payment, Destiny said, "let's talk," which Canal Corp. Director Carmella Mantello agreed to do – but said that the Canal Corp. wasn't backing off a deadline.

So, my thought is, if someone comes by with a development plan, a better offer, and a down-payment, there's no way Mantello could say no. Anybody want to buy a harbor? We've got some great ideas for you.

People claim all the time that there's nothing going on development-wise here, and they blame the fact that there's a slow-down on a proposed mega-mall expansion.

But Below 40 has put together a group called Adapt CNY, which will buy and develop the Wilson Building, which stands in the 300 block of South Salina Street. The plan: 33 apartments and 7500 square feet of retail space.

Not only does that not sound like "no development," it sounds like there are young professionals sticking around working toward positive change in Syracuse. Gasp.

UPDATE: Someone has tipped us off to the existence of a new web site designed to help save the Wilson Building.

Part the First

You may have seen this mornings Post-Standard article on David Garber, an attorney with the firm Mackenzie Hughes who is advising the city the mayor on matters related to DestiNY USA.

Among Destiny's lawyers: the Mackenzie Hughes law firm.

A quiz: Why does Garber say he doesn't have a conflict of interest? Is it:

(a) The mayor and Destiny execs have given him the verbal go-ahead
(b) Not only does he not know how much the city is paying Mackenzie Hughes for his time, he's not taking any of that money for himself
(c) a and b

If you said (c), give yourself a subpoena and a pat on the back!

(a) Is it possible that two different lawyers from one law firm could represent both sides in a case and not talk to each other about it? Absolutely, especially if the firm is big enough. Garber is one of 32 attorneys listed on the Mackenzie Hughes web site. It's not exactly the Hud. But is there always going to be the appearance of impropriety? Absolutely, especially to a public paying a couple of hundred dollars an hour.

(b) If Garber is going to take any money from Mackenzie Hughes (and I can't imagine he's skipping his paychecks), how can he be sure it's not coming from the city – or, worse, from Destiny? Worse, because he's taking money from the people on the other side in the case. As I understand it, checks come in, get deposited, and then paychecks get written. You really can't claim to work for the business and at the same time claim not to take money from its clients.

And for as guilty as Garber is in this case, the fault really lies with the mayor, who can't possibly think this even looks clean.

Part the Second

I nearly dropped my coffee this morning as I walked past the pile of New Times near the shop's door. The cover story is an interview with Bob Congel as to what Destiny is and why we need it. You'll want to read the whole piece, but there are a couple of things that absolutely need discussion.

First off, there's the assertion that Destiny would create 68,000 jobs at an average of $75,000 a year. My calculator might be broken, but it says that's $5,100,000,000 in salaries a year. That means Destiny would have to bring in $5.1 billion a year just to cover salaries. Not benefits, not light bulbs, not small repairs to the infrastructure, not gas for the buses that will have to shuttle people from the parking lot to the complex, not toilet paper – and this assuming that 100 per cent of the energy is generated onsite through green technology, and I definitely have my doubts about that.

This, I'm just going to drop in verbatim:

Q: The major criticism of your Destiny project seems to be that it is constantly changing and you can't be pinned down about the exact details of your vision. Is that a fair criticism?

A: That's not only fair, but it's accurate. We spent a major part of our life figuring out how to make this better for the community, how to draw more people to it. Our goal is to draw visitors.

Let me translate: So there's thing, and we need to build it, now. But we don't know what it is. It keeps changing. It always has. The main thing is, we need to approve the concept so that whatever we decide it's going to be on the day that we start digging up earth, that's what it'll be, until we change our minds again.

If this is going to actually be a public project, there has to be a public process. And that means public input and firm plans and all that good stuff.

Congel goes on to say in the piece that 50,000 people a day will visit Destiny, and 95 per cent of them will be from out of the area. That means that of this market's nearly a million people, only 2,500 people a day will visit. That's fewer than visit the current mall that sits on that site. So not only does this "public" project not involve the public in its planning, it doesn't even involve the public as a target customer.

Part the Third

And now for the good news.

Back in February, the New York State Canal Corporation, a division of the Thruway Authority, told Destiny to shit or get off the pot with development of the Inner Harbor. In 2002, Destiny submitted the favored proposal: they'd buy the harbor property and drop about $260 million in development there – including a 600-room hotel – as part of the DestiNY USA project. The Canal Corp. earlier this year threatened to look for a new developer.

Today, the Canal Corp. gave Destiny an ultimatum: By next Thursday, put a $1.8 million deposit on the property and sign papers saying you'll reimburse us for an environmental study, and by August 14 (the following Monday), get the ball rolling on the environmental study, or you're off the project.

I was rather upset that the Canal Corp. had taken this long after its threats earlier this year to finally start backing those threats up. But in retrospect, it's a work of genius. There have been quite a few really successful events at the Inner Harbor this year, and if it turns out Destiny doesn't want it, someone else surely will.

Developers already know that Baltimore's Inner Harbor is an enormous tourist attraction that also manages to bring in locals for ice skating, concerts, the local aquarium, and plenty of restaurants that aren't all chains. And without investing tons of money in marketing and no money at all in development this year, Syracuse has shown it can get people down to the Inner Harbor for events. Imagine if there were day-to-day things to do there – and then if there were a rich development firm marketing it as an attraction both locally and afar.

Wow. I think I just wet myself.

Cross-posted from CNY in the Pros.

We wrote last week about Floyd Landis' alleged doping. The Tour de France winner's first urine sample from the 17th stage came back with an "elevated testosterone level" – which doesn't necessarily mean he was taking anything he shouldn't have; his body could have been pumping out testosterone at high rates, which isn't unheard of for people who do crazy things to their bodies. Like riding their bikes a hundred miles a day over mountains in summer heat.

Of course, when the body is pumping out extra testosterone, it's not usually synthetic, like the testosterone found in his test. His back-up urine sample will be tested, and results are due back Saturday, so I guess we'll find out then if he's guilty.

In any case, the sport of cycling has been tainted, and Landis is getting all sorts of reactions, from sympathy from partiers to R-rated tirades.

But not all the doping news in sports is bad these days. Just days after actor Mel Gibson wound up in rehab after going on an anti-Semitic tirade following a drunk driving arrest, The Post-Standard has a piece on Crunch enforcer Brandon "Sugar" Sugden's battle with alcoholism and drug addiction.

Sugden's been clean for three years, and working hard to not only be off the drugs and alcohol, but also a decent human being. It appears to be working. He's even running a summer hockey camp for kids and getting involved in other community activities.

It's definitely good to have a guy like that stick around during the off-season.

Update: Further congratulations to Sugden – he's getting married tomorrow!