I'm probably going to leave this text up until after the November '05 election. I'd like to think that some of these points may influence my clients and any other web site visitors that reside in our county to consider whether of not they want to re-elect their district county legislators who voted this law in. Bottom line it's going to make caring for their properties more difficult & expensive and make notifying their neighbors who had concerns with this issue less effective. No one wins.

Who was responsible? I see our county executive, Maggie Brooks as being the driving force here and following close behind is William Smith,of the 10th district (Pittsford, East Rochester area & the Legislatures' Republican Majority Leader) as Maggie's main influence tool.

Therefore, I'd ask my friends and clients in the 10th district to seriously consider Ted Nixon who is running against Smith.( I've personally known & respected the Nixon family for over 25 years & find them to be reasonable, intelligent, hard-working & very approachable people) Ted also has been endorsed by The Brighton-Pittsford Post and by City Newspaper. I think our Legislature could benefit with people like Ted, who would bring forward fresh ideas and does not have any history as a 'politician' which is how I view Mr. Smith...

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Regarding our county's legislatures recent vote to 'opt-in' to the 48 hr.written neighbor notification proposal:

Yes. It was a disappointment. But we knew we were playing the game against 'a stacked' deck from the start. I just found it to be very short sighted.And was also disillusioned with the government process. With the exception of a few legislatures who had the strength of conviction to stand up and vote against Maggie Brooks wishes, it appears that most of these people are 'politicians first and elected representatives, second. And, I thought that the advocacy groups that pushed this through (by pressuring Maggie Brooks) could have done so much more with their effort. Than this..
     Oh well, we'll just have to deal with this unfortunate decision the best we can...)

And lets remember who showed themselves to be a real (representative) legislators and who (we now know) are simply 'politicians' come next election day. (Including Maggie!) I'll make sure to remind you at election time. However, you'll be reminded every time I'm hampered to provide you the services you expect next season..
     Regardless of this outcome, I thank you (and respect) those many friends, colleagues & clients who gave our industry their support regarding this issue. You were the overwhelming majority! Believe this! 

Here's my notes from my final appeal for reason, for the forum just prior to voting. (6/14)

If this proposal passes and our county Ôopts-inÕ, who gains?
Obviously, not us contractors who have to either deal with the impossible logistics of a nightmare of postcard mailings to stay in compliance or find weak workaround solutions to avoid it.
Not our clients who will find our ability to provide the quality maintenance service they expect for their properties hampered, which will likely now come at an increased cost. Or find that they now have the necessity to make their own applications, without the training or experience that we rely on.
I worry personally about one single important client of mine, the maintenance of the Stone-Tolan orchard on East Avenue. This historic property has a collection of older, less disease resistant varieties of apple trees and I was called in to the site by the Landmark Society 12 years ago to deal with a very bad infestation of Fireblight. This bacteria threatened the very future of this important orchard. I pruned out the affected growth and in doing so, nearly had to cut many of the trees in half and got them on a program to protect the trees from future infection. During a spring season of high infection risk, it is crucial that I apply the bactericide, (streptomycin) immediately following a rain storm during the blossom period. Having to wait 2 days with the 48 hr. notification restriction would leave these tree open again to infection and in many cases, we could expect tree death as a result.
Not our environment. It will add serious risks to the gains we've made by discouraging I. P.M. practices, increase the use of blanket applications of broad spectrum products, increase the use of (less accurate) granular products and could force applicators to make applications during less than ideal conditions attempting to meet a projected notification date.
Not our clientsÕ neighbors who have requested notification. Does anybody really believe it is more desirable to get a written notification two days in advance that lists a projected application date and two alternative dates and that it's more accurate and less confusing than a simple phone call or e-mail the day prior to the application? I can even usually pin it down to morning or afternoon for the neighbor in question. I take the time to explain what's being done and even have offered to provide them with access to product Labels &/or MSDS if they'd like to receive more information on the products being used. I've actually been a little disappointed that no one have requested this data. Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised however, as on a similar note, while up here last month, I invited the legislators who wished to vote form an informed stance to contact our county extension service so they could inquire from an uninterested source, how this proposal would affect IPM (the cornerstone of reduced, responsible pesticide use...). I called the Extension this afternoon to see how many legislators had indeed contacted their office with this question and the response was ÒNoneÓ. Maybe ignorance is bliss.
And lastly, not our county. If this proposal passes, it's the Monroe County's Health Department that has to pick up the tab to organize & to enforce it. We've all heard the dismal budget gap projections for next year in the news recentlyÉ So, does this sound like responsible spending of our tax dollars?

So why are we here? When I ask people I consider informed, I receive this apologetic smile and shrug with the response, ÒTom, it has nothing to do with reasonable arguments and everything to do with politics!Ó Maybe I'm naive on how the system works, but I think this stinks. If this is the case, & this issue was predetermined by some 'back-room agreement', why even bother with these forums or this process? Our county and its citizens deserve better from their elected officials.

Everyone is empathic to the cancer issue. To not be would to be a monster! When this proposal came up for debate in March. I contacted sources I know in the Plant Science Dept. at Cornell University looking for more data. I was referred to Dr. Suzanne Snedeker who works directly on the Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors for Cornell. I spoke to her at length on the subject of home and garden pesticides and cancer risks. I asked her to please review the listof pesticide products I have included on my web site that are commonly used in our industry and to advise me if any are suspect of being carcinogens. She assured me she would. I've yet to hear back from her... But if I did, the product mentioned would be immediately pulled from my inventory, which is probably a moot statement as I'm sure the NYSDEC would have it banned as soon as and findings were exposed. I told her I respected her work and I found her research to be very useful science and felt we were lucky to have a university like Cornell in our state working on this issue. I also now subscribe to their newsletter ÔThe RibbonÕ. My request for her to review my products wasn't just because of my concerns of the residue left on my customers property and the resulting exposure risks. Or, to any residues left on their neighbors properties from already illegal drift... But for my concerns for my own health and well being. Remember, its us contractors who have to handle these products in the concentrated form while mixing, be exposed while the products are being applied and continue this exposure for many days during the spring and summer. Myself, I've been a working applicator for over 25 years... If a product is putting my health at risk, I want to know! And I'm sure my colleagues here would want to know also!

In one way our industry actually assists Cornell with their research. At the conclusion of very year, for the past 6 or 7 years, every pesticide appliciantor business has had to file an annual repor of all applications made that yeart. In addition to turf and ornamental applicators, included here are the building trade and pool maintenance companies. This ÔrequiredÕ report contains data that is gathered in detail at the time of every application made during the year. The fields to be completed are:
-the date
-the name of the pesticide applied
-itÕs EPA Reg#
-the amount of concentrate used (For example if a label calls for 12 fl oz of a product in 100 gal. of water and 10 gallons of spray was applied, the amount here would be 1.2 fl oz...)
-the street address
-the township
-the zip code
-the county.

These reports certainly take considerable effort to compile. These reports are combined into a huge database for all NYS applicators. The reason for them was to research over time if their is any noticeable connection between the location of the use of these products and instances of cancers, especially breast cancers. In the six years of this databases being studied, no connection has been established. These results are public knowledge and available at the NYSDEC web site. Again, I find this to be useful science.

So, my conclusion would be:
I see this as us contractors taking a hit, our clients taking a hit, our environment taking a hit, the neighbors of our clients who desire to be notified in a simple and accurate manner taking a hit and our county, who picks up the tab, taking a hit... All because of a vocal group of advocates who have decided that the scientific research, done for their behalf on this issue to be incomplete or inaccurate.
I ask that you do the right thing and vote no on this proposal. Monroe County can & should do better!

Thank you.

---- Oh well; I guess reason has very little to do with these types of processes. It was a real wake up call for me on how local politics really works!

What I want to do is research the voting record of the legislators from when this came to a vote a few years ago and was soundly defeated. And determine which legislators suddenly got their minds changed this time around.. These are the ones I want to see GONE! Who needs these representatives in office who, when supposedly, looking after the concerns of their constituents, fail to have the strength of character to vote their conscience and instead vote how they've been told. Weak. Very weak... Where is the leadership? (And where are their balls??!!) Get them outta there!

We deserve better-