06/15/2026
I wrote a thing:
For most New Yorkers, Albany might as well be another planet.
People go to work, raise their families, run their businesses, pay their taxes and expect that the representatives they elect will spend their time addressing the problems affecting their communities.
But increasingly, it feels like our state government spends more time governing itself than governing New York.
Every year, the legislative session runs from January through early June. In theory, this is the period when lawmakers debate and pass legislation intended to address the needs of the people they represent. In practice, much of that time is consumed by budget negotiations.
This year, the state budget was finalized roughly two months late. While Albany argued behind closed doors, the calendar continued to move. By the time the budget passed, only a short window remained for lawmakers to address the countless issues affecting New Yorkers across the state.
The result is a growing sense that urgent problems are acknowledged but not addressed.
I own a redemption center. My industry has operated under the same handling fee since 2009, despite dramatic increases in wages, rent, utilities, insurance, transportation costs and virtually every other business expense. State lawmakers have been warned for years that redemption centers are closing. Hundreds have disappeared. Communities are losing access to a service required by state law. Yet meaningful action continues to stall.
But this isn't just about bottle redemption.
Talk to farmers struggling with rising costs. Talk to small-business owners buried under regulations and expenses. Talk to families searching for affordable housing, municipalities trying to balance budgets or workers wondering why it feels harder every year to get ahead. Across countless issues, New Yorkers hear the same message: "We know there's a problem."
What they don't hear is when it will be fixed.
The consequences are real. Businesses close. Jobs disappear. Communities lose services. Families leave the state. Not because they want to, but because they feel they have no other choice.
This should concern Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.
Government exists to solve problems. If problems remain unresolved year after year while legislative deadlines come and go, citizens have every right to ask whether the system is working as intended.
Too often, politics has become a team sport.
Voters are encouraged to defend their side and attack the other. But elections should not be loyalty tests. They should be performance reviews.
When a restaurant consistently serves bad food, customers eventually try somewhere else. Not because they hate the restaurant, but because they want a better outcome.
Voters should approach elections the same way.
That doesn't mean automatically replacing every incumbent. It means evaluating results. Has your representative been accessible? Have they fought for your community? Have they delivered solutions? Have they made progress on the issues they promised to address?
If the answer is yes, support them.
If the answer is no, consider alternatives.
New Yorkers deserve a government that respects their time, treats their concerns as urgent, and remembers that public office is a responsibility — not a title.
The budget may be finished. The session may be over. But the problems facing ordinary New Yorkers remain.
It is difficult not to feel as though New Yorkers have been placed on a political treadmill —running harder every year, yet somehow ending up in exactly the same place.
Jade Eddy is the owner of MT Returnables in Queensbury.
https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/commentary-another-session-ends-little-show-22302834.php
