New Hartford Stormwater Meetings Opened To Public

[Swimmy]

New Hartford Stormwater Meetings Opened To Public

Who ever said the little guy can't cause change.

I find it interesting that GateHouse News Service is taking credit for this article and not the observer-dispatch.

I also find it interesting that Krupa claims her whole election campaign was to open up those meetings. Once elected, she did nothing until the Notice of Claim was filed. Then she threatened Concerned Citizens. Finally, after it was realized this was a real threat, the Stormwater Committee members told the board they wanted to open their meetings back up. That's when she finally did something and voted in favor of their decision.

Maybe this will stop nhcitizen18's rhetoric.

[Clipper]

Krupa was noticeably absent when the flooding in the Royal Brook Crescent area became a critical issue this past year. She was jumping back and forth over the fence like a steeple chaser, covering her ass and that of her friends.

As far as New Hartford and open meetings, the only meetings that are going to be "open" are those that the ruling clique finds harmless to their agenda and moot in nature. The meetings may be open, but who will be allowed to speak out, and will their concerns be taken into consideration? Hell no!

The gatehouse byline on the article is possibly because Donna did not agree, and the corporate folks may have stepped in her shit and told her to report on NH issues whether she agreed with them or not. I think Donna has grown to see Observer Dispatch and her own name synonymous. She has grown to think she has "ownership" instead of management authority.

Donna is a very capable and intelligent publisher. She might do well to publish in another area. She is obviously incapable of publishing anything about NH or the people who she is in bed with politically. That is not fair and unbiased reporting, and fair reporting is what is needed with the arrogance and bullshit that is passed off as politics in NH.

[clarencebunsen]

Actually, I think Gatehouse corporate has a lot of things that are higher priority than OD editorial content. Things like Gatehouse stock losing 99% of it's value in a year (from $20 to $.20).
I was a little surprised by the story, most of the stuff from the Gatehouse News Service has been pretty poor often with obvious factual errors. This was actually readable.

One puzzle: In the paper the by-line is Dan Miner, Observer-Dispatch; on line it is Dan Miner, Gatehouse News Service.

[Clipper]

Gosh Clarence, do ya really think that having their stock on the clearance rack at the dollar store is any reason for them not to worry about such a large and important news outlet as the Observer Disgrace?

I don't see the printed edition any more, seeing as how I am in Tennessee, and my old paper lady from Herkimer Rd thinks it is a little out of her way to give me home delivery. I don't recall a Dan Miner from when I worked there. I am sure that there is an easy explanation for the two bylines. He may be someone who has come here from Gatehouse to work and is part of a bigger news team than the local one.

[Swimmy]

I know that Gatehouse has been receiving many complaints regarding donna's lackluster editorial skills and news reporting. I would not be surprised if they correlate their stock slip to shoddy news reporting and to silence the masses, they issued an article purporting to be balanced and unbiased and purporting to demonstrate fair and accurate reporting.

[clarencebunsen]

Since Ms. Donovan is neither editor or reporter, I would expect that any emails about her lack of those skills will go straight to the junk folder. Her performance will be judged by the financial performance of the OD which appears to be above the industry norm.

Gatehouse's problems are a lot deeper than how a single newspaper performs: enormous debt to equity in an industry where revenues are in a death spiral, growth faster than the corporate infrastructure can support.

They are not even the worst performers among the major newspaper corporations.

www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631186

[dgriffin]

"Beer a Better Investment Than Newspapers" speaks very well to your point, CB.
Back around 1980 when you could get 18% interest on a 2 year CD, I happened to take a product extension proposal into my vice president. It had a respectable ROI of 20%, but he turned me down, saying, " I can get almost much that down at the corner bank without any risk."

Gatehouse is a business. For all we know, Donovan may be a star employee and the recipient of many BUSINESS awards. If you met with her boss and told him/her that for a publisher she was too cozy with New Hartford interests, he'd say that's terrible and he would look into it. When you left and closed the door, he'd turn to her and say, "Was it good for business?"

[Clipper]

She is so good for business that she treats her help like slaves. Anyone that expects the bundle contractors to work with little pay and then bitches when they ask for a fuel surcharge to be added when the gas is way up, should be out there delivering her own damn bundles just one night in winter.

The main reason I quit as transportation manager was that she would not give the company drivers a raise from the $6.35 they were making. I couldn't keep drivers who were required to drive in all kinds of weather, slip on peoples steps, get mugged in Cornhill, and have their trucks stolen while delivering to a Nice and Easy.

Her attitude was that if they quit there was plenty more to take their place. Well that theory was wearing out before I left. I was out delivering bundles some nights, and that was not going to happen for long. I told them to shove it and went back on the road driving a tractor trailer.

[Swimmy]

I'm always amazed at how people willingly turn a blind eye. I don't doubt the disgrace is that big of an issue in the big picture. But look at it from the big picture for a second. If you have a majority of shoddy papers like the disgrace, no wonder your stock is falling. You try to do what you can to stymie the slide into bankruptcy. Publish an article here to placate these masses here; publish an article there to placate those masses there.

Splitting hairs over her specific title does nothing to address the fact that GateHouse has received numerous complaints about her paper. She still controls what is published, what is not, and how those "stories" are written into the paper.

[Clipper]

Believe me, she controls EVERYTHING at that newspaper, from the editor and editing, to the teenaged home delivery carrier. She rules with an iron hand and everyone that has worked there has felt the heat, haha.

I had a mechanic that was as useless as teats on a boar hog. He was paid mechanic's wages and everything that went wrong with a truck or van, it ended up at C Weaver or his buddy's place on Catherine St. I had managed about 500 vehicles while working for the Air Force. I could not believe that this man could not be made to at least change oil in a fully equipped garage on the corner of John and Oriskany. I found that my supervision and orders were ignored. When I went to fire the useless turd, I found out I couldn't because his wife babysat for Donna's kids every day. I found that to be very poor management and shitty support for a manager under her. That asshole thumbed his nose at my authority until the day I quit.

[dgriffin]

Gatehouse Media's newspaper holdings: United States



Gatehouse is a pretty large outfit. From their website:
97 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 834,000; 291 weekly newspapers (published up to three times per week) with total paid circulation of approximately 673,000 and total free circulation of approximately 936,000. Also numerous shopper papers, yellow page directories covering 2 million people and 265 individual web sites.

There's no doubt the company is in trouble, as are other media outlets. The NYSE has threatenend to de-list them because their trading price went under a dollar.




Their stated plan is interesting:
"The company's business plan includes, but is not limited to, the continued suspension of the company's dividend, the repayment of amounts outstanding under the company's revolving credit facility, which was paid in full as of 30 September 2008. It also includes building cash for greater liquidity and utilisation of future free cash flow for de-levering."

Look for even more cost cuts.

I don't think their current focus is on news reporting in Central New York.

[Swimmy]

I just think it's pretty arrogant that a few complaints didn't have an effect on the reporting. As I tried to point out before, if you look at it in the aggregate, with each local outlet failing miserably like the disgrace, it's not difficult to believe they would try to do something to change that image to something more positive.

[dgriffin]

Oct 21, 2008 20:52:34 GMT -5 Swimmy said:

I just think it's pretty arrogant that a few complaints didn't have an effect on the reporting.

I caught a whiff of Rah! Rah! in their in-house on-line newsletters, as you would expect. But it reminded me of how a kind of corporate groupthink can get managers and employees lying to each other about how things are going without often realizing it. The short version of that is they may not know how badly they're doing.
They might slap each other on the back for front pages with eye appeal, without asking themselves if the lead story content is accurate and useful and fair.
They listen to community leaders who may praise the paper's efforts without stopping to think that these are the guys they've been buttering up.
An individual reporter may proudly display a State Association Award for his series of expose' articles, judged best in the competition, but seen as drivel by any discerning reader.
I'm not apologizing for the OD; they may in fact be malicious. It's just that I've seen groupthink work. And it works too well.

Below ... headline written in a hurry.

[frankcor]

Re: corporate groupthink

"The company's business plan includes, but is not limited to, the continued suspension of the company's dividend, the repayment of amounts outstanding under the company's revolving credit facility, which was paid in full as of 30 September 2008. It also includes building cash for greater liquidity and utilisation of future free cash flow for de-levering."

Gatehouse Media's statement of goals reveals no evidence of having been made by a newspaper business. It is clear evidence of a company that is being run by bean counters. Are there any journalists on the board?

[dgriffin]

Oct 22, 2008 7:31:53 GMT -5 frankcor said:

Are there any journalists on the board?

Maybe a lousy journalist here or there. I wonder if a good journalist can make a great businessman. Of course, there was Ben Franklin, my favorite know-it-all.
Ben and I share something in common.
We both write as if the world was holding its breath waiting for the next sentence.
For him, it was true.