Albany is the capital of New York State and is about a three-hour drive up the Hudson River from New York City. Many commentators have complained that the spendthrift legislators in Albany are so disconnected from New York’s taxpayers that it’s as if the state legislature lives on another planet—Planet Albany.
The term “Planet Albany” was possibly coined by columnist Donn Esmonde, writing in the Buffalo News in 2004: “Planet Albany: It’s Far Out.” The term “Planet Albany” was further popularized by a New York Daily News editorial on July 29, 2008: “Question: What planet are these guys on? Answer: Planet Albany.”
Wikipedia: Albany, New York
Albany is the capital of the State of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is 136 miles (219 km) north of New York City, and slightly to the south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city has a population of 93,963 (July 2006 est.).
Albany has close ties with the nearby cities of Troy, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs, forming a region called the Capital District. This area makes up the bulk of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with a population of 850,957, making it the fourth largest urban area in New York State, and the 56th largest MSA in the United States.
Albany is built on the site of the Dutch Fort Orange and its surrounding community of Beverwyck. The English acquired the site from the Dutch in 1664 and renamed it Albany, in honor of James II, Duke of Albany. A 1686 document issued by Thomas Dongan granted Albany its official charter. This date makes Albany the second oldest city in the state in terms of its date of incorporation, after New Amsterdam.
Buffalo (NY) News
PLANET ALBANY: IT’S FAR OUT
Published on November 19, 2004
It is official: Albany is its own planet.
Astronomers have yet to confirm that the state capital has separated from Earth into its own orbit. But recent developments confirm what most folks long suspected. Those running state government do not live in the same world we do. The three-men-in-a-room who run the state and the 210 lawmakers who pledge allegiance are a separate species: Albanus Apartfromus. They may look like homo sapiens, stand erect and speak our language. But they are…
2 May 2007, Buffalo (NY) News, Donn Esmonde column:
But Cole’s folly is too common on Planet Albany.
Buffalo (NY) News
BRAVO, Bravo, Bravo, regarding Sunday’s Column on “Planet Albany”. In my book you hit a home run, covering the broad-spectrum of lunacy that inhabits the halls of our State Capital. Thank you for your summation of their ongoing racketeering at the expense of NYS taxpayers. From the Thruway Authority to the Legislature to the Governors Office and the panoply of Special Interest Groups
that feed at the trough of public money, I’m sure they’ll take notice of your story. Let’s hope the taxpayers, those left who care I mean, respond with increasing urgency for someone in Albany to take action to save this region! Please keep up the good work and thank you.
Posted by: Neil | January 27, 2008 at 01:34 PM
Life On “Planet Albany”
February 26, 2008
Lt. Gov. David Paterson got some laughs from college students today when he talked about why the state Legislature, of which he was a veteran before joining the Spitzer administration, hasn’t passed a bottle bill that includes deposits on water bottles and other non-carbonated drinks.
“This is very simple but that would be if you were on a normal planet,” he told NYPIRG volunteers, getting smiles and chuckles from the crowd. “But you’re in Planet Albany, where sometimes there’s no gravity, sometimes there’s no atmosphere and most times there’s little thought.
“So before we discover whether there’s life on Mars or life on the moon, we have to find out if there’s life in Albany.”
New York (NY) Daily News
Dave’s call to action
Tuesday, July 29th 2008, 8:21 PM
It no doubt irked legislators to hear gentlemanly David Paterson say lawmakers should give up “vacation” time to address a crisis. But, truth be told, he was being charitable.
For the Legislature has jacked spending to unsustainable levels while refusing to see that New York’s primary generator of taxes - Wall Street - is losing billions of dollars and cutting thousands of jobs.
Even now, after claiming Paterson overstated the crisis, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver ruled out touching big chunks of money for schools and nursing homes.
And Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos asserted that the first piece of business should be a constitutional amendment that bars him and his colleagues from voting large spending hikes starting in 2010.
Question: What planet are these guys on? Answer: Planet Albany.
New York City • Government/Law/Politics/Military • (2) Comments • Thursday, July 31, 2008 • Permalink
Since this was published, Bob Conner of the Daily Gazette started his blog of the same name at http://planetalbany.typepad.com
Cheers from the Great White North!
That’s formerly of The Daily Gazette, not currently.