Bright Creativity On A Dull Winter Afternoon

By Luke T. Bush

PLATTSBURGH CITY, NY -- 1/24/19

Outside gray clouds rule with a dismal rain.  Inside various colors are applied to tiles,.  changing patterns and hues.

This afternoon Community Art Group Coordinator Audra Green is showing how to create art with small square white tiles.  Each participant expresses individuality by selecting different paint colors and how they are applied.

Folding tables form a large rectangular seating area.  Sometimes Audra gets up from her seat to provide more supplies from the large rolling cabinet nearby.  The cabinet is a familiar sight from the days when the group used to meet at the ROTA Studio and Art Gallery.  Each large sliding shelf has an array of materials, paint: pens, colored markers, whatever is needed.

Community Art Group Coordinator Audra Green
creates along with the other participants.

Years later the group is still going strong but it now meets on the Plattsburgh Public Library second floor, 2 PM on Thursday.  The Community Art Group is one of the public outreach programs under the auspices of NAMI-CV, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Champlain Valley.

Popular projects in the past include wood burning, collages, even decorating wine bottles.  All skill levels are welcome.  Audra explains the group is for relaxation, just getting together and creating.

The Community Art Group Facebook page provides more info about the program or you can contact Audra at audra@NAMI-CV.org.  NAMI-CV sponsors other programs during the week like creative writing and board games.  More info at its Facebook page .

Bad Juxtaposition Fixed - Sorta

On Google News there's a different photo accompanying a Press-Republican drug bust story.  As mentioned previously next to the headline had been an obit photo, not an image of one of the perpetrators.  This photo shows one of the arrestees while the headline still mentions two men.  You have to click through to find out two women had also been arrested.  I hope no one assumed the Google News photo was supposed to be a man.

Bad Juxtaposition

This screencap from Google News shows a link to a Press Republican mobile site article about a drug bust (1/20/19).  On Google News there's a photo next to the article.  Since the headline mentions two men being busted one could easily assume the man in the photo was one of the arrestees.

But if you click on the article's link and scroll down on the PR site you discover the real story behind the photo.  It's from the obituary section.

Night Invaders

Just a small number of the invasion force.

Obit Photo Or Postage Stamp?

Respect for the dead.

Press-Republican - 1/16/19

Without Good Caws

Raucous crow hordes add to the musicality of downtown Plattsburgh City.  Such soothing sounds at night.

Nothing To Crow About

I went for a walk this evening and even nighttime couldn't take the edge off the white splatters all over the sidewalks. When is Plattsburgh City going to do something about the crow hordes? Crows have outcrapped dogs at City Hall and other places.

Fit For A King

I love lugging on foot an oversized bulky box all the way home from the post office.  As you can see in the accompanying photo the original packaging was shoe box sized.  When Adorama sent my order they were concerned that my camera holster would be crushed inside a too small shipping box.  Ergo they took extra caution.  Or should I say extra extra extra caution?

Durkee Parking Lot Redevelopment: Street Talk

Prime Companies Vice President Todd Curley answers a question from the audience
during the Durkee Street Parking Lot Redevelopment Forum.

(C) 2019  Luke T. Bush


PLATTSBURGH CITY, NY -- Jan. 8, 2019


Pull in or back in?

I didn't think of the question until I returned home after the meeting.

The forum held at City Hall Tuesday evening dealt with the proposal by Prime Companies of Cohoes, NY to renovate the Durkee Street parking lot as part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant.

Todd Curley, Prime Companies Vice President, handled most of the questions from the audience.  Projected behind him on the big screen was an aerial view of the Durkee Street parking lot area superimposed with renderings of proposed structures, the redevelopment eliminating most of the public parking spots.

His company received considerable public input regarding parking and his company listened to those concerns.  More parking was added to the proposal including angled/diagonal parking on Durkee and Bridge streets which would add more spots.

I noticed one detail about the diagonal parking.  No handicapped spots.  I asked about access to the disabled community, that two parking spots were needed so that someone using wheelchair could easily disembark from a vehicle.  To add those spots would reduce the total number.

Todd agreed, saying that this was a proposal and changes would be made as needed.  He stated the redevelopment project would be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

 A commenter in the audience pointed out delivery trucks use Durkee Street, sometimes double parking.  That could mean someone in the angled parking spots could find themselves trapped until the truck moved.

I asked Todd about how much disruption the construction would produce especially with the traffic flow.  He replied there would be one dedicated entrance to the site and that traffic would only be affected when deliveries were being made.

As I mentioned there's the question pulling or backing in with angled parking.  Pulling in would mean the vehicle would have to back out into traffic when leaving.  Backing in would be safer because loading the trunk would be done from the sidewalk.  When the vehicle left the driver would have a better view of the street.

One time the city tried angled parking on Court Street and at the Post Office on Miller Street.  It didn't work and the diagonal lines were covered up.  But like a ghost haunting the present some of the lines are showing through on Court Street, conflicting with the newer stripes.

Would angled parking work a second time?  A roundabout confused some drivers when it was first introduced in the city.  They kept circling, trying to figure out how to exit.  Car sickness ensued.  Education would be needed for angled parking or improper parking will result. Headaches for everyone.

Failure haunts Court Street.

Another Reason To Hate Film

After a lot of work it still looks washed out.

By Luke T. Bush

The quality of this set of photos (link below) from the year 2000 is sub-par.  With film you don't know if there's a problem until the negatives are processed.  After I shot this local rock/punk show in a church basement I discovered that the poor image quality was due to fungus growing inside my Sigma lens.  None of my other lens have turned fungoid.  I won't buy Sigma again.

The fungus obscured detail in each shot by degrading details with its filmy layer and also by creating glare to further reduce details.  And to add to the fun the fungus shifted the color to crap. I converted some shots to black & white because I couldn't correct the color.  As before I had to frequently use the clone-and-heal stamp to remove dust threads and particles.  More time was added from trying pull to out a halfway decent digital image with each neg.

At least I was able to salvage something out of this fungoid fuck-up.

The complete set can be found here.