Notes from Upstate NY: wind power, voting machines, refugee soccer

Wind power is a hot topic in upstate New York. There are divisions even within environmental community. Some have concerns about the potential impact of wind turbines on birds or on scenic views. Others contend that such concerns are minor and that wind power is a step toward weaning the country from its unhealthy addiction to oil by producing a clean energy alternative.

Northern NY folies blog lambastes the conduct of elected officials regarding a wind power project in Cape Vincent, on the St. Lawrence River. Adirondack Almanack blog seems to approve of a wind project in Ellenberg in the state's northeastern Clinton County.

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New York will be the last state in the nation to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. Supposedly, New York is supposed to be scrapping the long used lever-based voting machines in favor of electronic touch screen machnines. But the League of Women Voters accused the State Board of Elections of withholding technical data that they say could show whether new voting machines are accurate or not.


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The Global Game, a fascinating blog about the intersection of sociopolitics and soccer, has a good piece about soccer and foreigners living and working in the United States.

One of the places featured in the entry was the central New York city (misidentified as a hamlet) of Utica.

Ten thousand refugees from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe resettled in [Utica] have struggled to assimilate, but the pickup football matches at a local high school have proven popular with the large numbers of youth. Refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Somalia (Bantu), Haiti, El Salvador and Jamaica mingle and create an ad hoc community, while a local refugee center assists with language and job training.

Utica is a rust belt town that decayed badly for several decades but appears to have been rejuvenated by the influx of foreigners.

As WorldPress.org noted:

In Utica, there is no clan warfare, but soccer does bring together groups that generally do not interact, and [Kenyan Adde] Ibrahim believes forging this kind of connection with the community can provide a safety net.