I think Thomas Jefferson and other framers of the Constitution are rolling around in their graves unhappy with the current state of affairs. I have been making some observations lately that have me thinking that "government FOR the people" has turned out to be more like "government IGNORES the people." Elected officials and their employees seem to be trying to make it as difficult as possible for the citizen to get a fair shot at anything.

If you ever attended an Albany city council meeting, the first thing you'll notice is that all the alderman, minus the council president, sit with their backs to the public area. I say public area loosely since the area reserved for the public consists of a space that can fit maybe 25 people comfortably. I suppose since Albanians were so use to having a political machine run it for the last 90 years, they felt it really didn't need room for public input.

Troy's city hall, built with a bargain basement cement sale, has a suitable public place for the council and public to meet, however the acoustics remind me of being in Howe's Cavern. By the time the first uttered sentence reaches you, the second one is scrambling the first, and so on - basically you can't hear a thing. I suppose they also felt it unnecessary to have windows with blinds so you could darken the room in case someone want to show a slide show or present information other than vocals.

Schenectady's city hall has to be one of the most elegant and the council chambers on the 2nd floor really are quite beautiful. You feel you are in church instead of a government building and the classical design is quite wonderful to look at. It's large and can easily fit a couple of hundred people, and yes, the council folks look at you. However, here is my horror story.

As you may have read, the city is hiking taxes 25%, but they decided to first raise everyone's assessments. This way, the 25% tax hike on the new higher assessment brings in more like a 40% hike. I guess they figured we wouldn't be smart enough to know that.

So like a good citizen I filed a grievance to have my assessment lowered and was given a form with a serial number and a ticket attached (for the door prize I figured). No other instructions other than show up at 9:30 on June 27. They didn't inform me that they told everyone else to show up that same day - same time.

Naturally, the chambers were packed - no standing room either. We were given instructions in a strong tone of voice that no cell phones were to be on, and no talking would be allowed. The final instruction was if you left the room and your name was called, too bad. Your name would then be put in a pile until everyone was called. Oh yeah, he retorted, "We will have all of you out of here by noon! " Yeah, right, I wanted to yell, " don't worry about working all day like the rest of us."

So, no talking, no calling, and no bathroom break. Forget the fact that the parking meters were only two hours max in front of City Hall. It was clear from the 200+ packed house that I was not getting out of there anytime soon.

I was right. I sat there for three hours, not able to move. Each time the crowd got a little rowdy, a little old lady in the corner would yell, "BE QUIET." I thought I was back in St. Anthony's elementary school.

Remember the form I received with the ticket attached? The form had a serial number on it that I assumed was my place in line. Nope! The ticket was and mine had fallen from the staple and went to never, never land. Fortunately the man in charge gave out the address along with the ticket number. There was no door prize.

I sat there for three hours and I watched person after person go up and make their plea, usually for no longer than a minute. When I finally heard my address called, I spent a total of 30 seconds to make my plea to lower my assessment. Let me state that again. I sat quiet, motionless, for three hours to deliver a 30 second plea! Could not a system be developed that allowed you to file a grievance by mail or stagger the number of people over the whole day? No, that's too logical. Thomas Paine said it well: "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."