Uploaded March 2014 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This is a last chapter in the public's 3-year effort to keep Chautauqua County's publicly-owned nursing home. It was sold on the icy wintry night of February 26, 2014. It was a sell out, and cheap. Past and current residents thought of the County Home as "their" home. And it was. They took pride in it. And so did the staff. It was a social safety net. And even though the State of New York (in concert with the nursing home industry lobby, as one of the speakers points out) crippled its income potential, it was costing taxpayers very little (less than $20 a year).
The sale of the home is part of the global theft/surrender of the public commons. The Federal Reserve floods private banks with money ($16 billion plus), but none of the cash goes to cities, states or counties; then those with access to money buy up public assets.
During the protracted effort to keep the home, we met heroic, compassionate, thoughtful, wise people, some of whom speak in this last 'privilege of the floor' commentary. We have purposefully left out the evening's sole voice for selling: Todd Tranum of the Chamber of Commerce who's given a weekly Post-Journal column to sell his privatization mantra. Also on the side of the privatizers were the Jamestown Post-Journal, the Chamber, The Mfgs Assn of the Southern Tier, County Executives (Greg Edwards & Vince Horrigan), the Chautauqua IDA, and the State's financial bias against county-owned nursing homes. As this video shows, the County-owned nursing home costs taxpayers very little.
In one of its headlines, the Post-Journal said the sale was 'Bitter Sweet'. Well, there was nothing sweet about it, unless you're rooting for the Farbenblums, and privatization, and lowering the standard of living of a sizable group of unionized working people in the increasingly depressed north end of Chautauqua County. It was a sell out. And cheap! A needless betrayal. A purposeful and unnecessary ratcheting down of the standard of living. The sell outs followed the dictates in some respect of their constituents, who followed the dictates of the Post Journal. Sweet victory for the PJ but otherwise a betrayal.
This is a last chapter in the public's 3-year effort to keep Chautauqua County's publicly-owned nursing home. It was sold on the icy wintry night of February 26, 2014. It was a sell out, and cheap. Past and current residents thought of the County Home as "their" home. And it was. They took pride in it. And so did the staff. It was a social safety net. And even though the State of New York (in concert with the nursing home industry lobby, as one of the speakers points out) crippled its income potential, it was costing taxpayers very little (less than $20 a year).
The sale of the home is part of the global theft/surrender of the public commons. The Federal Reserve floods private banks with money ($16 billion plus), but none of the cash goes to cities, states or counties; then those with access to money buy up public assets.
During the protracted effort to keep the home, we met heroic, compassionate, thoughtful, wise people, some of whom speak in this last 'privilege of the floor' commentary. We have purposefully left out the evening's sole voice for selling: Todd Tranum of the Chamber of Commerce who's given a weekly Post-Journal column to sell his privatization mantra. Also on the side of the privatizers were the Jamestown Post-Journal, the Chamber, The Mfgs Assn of the Southern Tier, County Executives (Greg Edwards & Vince Horrigan), the Chautauqua IDA, and the State's financial bias against county-owned nursing homes. As this video shows, the County-owned nursing home costs taxpayers very little.
In one of its headlines, the Post-Journal said the sale was 'Bitter Sweet'. Well, there was nothing sweet about it, unless you're rooting for the Farbenblums, and privatization, and lowering the standard of living of a sizable group of unionized working people in the increasingly depressed north end of Chautauqua County. It was a sell out. And cheap! A needless betrayal. A purposeful and unnecessary ratcheting down of the standard of living. The sell outs followed the dictates in some respect of their constituents, who followed the dictates of the Post Journal. Sweet victory for the PJ but otherwise a betrayal.
