Lost Buffalo

Via FixBuffalo, I found this site, run by one Marty Biniasz. He's got a whole section of his website devoted to "Lost Buffalo". I'm a relative newcomer to town, so it's really cool to finally see visual representations of stuff I'd heard about for years. Like a busy downtown Main Street: It's a great website for history buffs - especially East Siders.

Uncle Joe

Bush's buddy Pooty-poot is rehabilitating mass murderer and maniac Josef Stalin. How nice. I wonder if there would be an outcry if a German town decided to erect a Hitler statue?

Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday.... ...In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, state television channels have shown a number of prime-time television shows in recent months depicting him in a positive light.

If anyone has some Stalin nostalgia, they should travel to North Korea.

AM&A update

Uniland released its plan for the AM&A site. As you know, I think that the facade should be preserved (gasworks-style), while the building itself be demolished and rebuilt. I think the facade is beautiful, and is a very cool deco-style modernist design. That would also be a reasonable compromise between preservationists who want the whole building to stay, and Uniland, which claims it must demolish the whole thing. (Typical Buffalo - no middle ground, only extremes).

Uniland Development's updated plans for the former AM&A's department store site in downtown Buffalo envision a smaller office tower than first proposed, with a reworked facade that pays homage to the existing structure.

Oh, great news. It wants to "pay homage" to AM&A. How, prithee?

The updated rendering of the building, still labeled as a conceptual design, depicts a row of balconies around the entire top floor. That feature is reminiscent of the front of the existing building.

Oh. So - replace the cool deco structure with something new that has an upper level balcony. I guess that's what passes for architectural preservation 'round here. *sigh*. But...they're going to buy AM&A, and that gives them the right to do with it what they will, right? I mean, they're going to invest their own money into buying the property, right?

As was the case with its original plan for the 377 Main St. site, Uniland is requesting a significant public inducement - $8 million in state funds, sources said. While that amount is less than the $11 million aid package Uniland originally sought, it assumes additional public funding will be tapped for acquisition of the property, which has a nearly $3 million price tag. In 2004, Uniland had included the purchase cost, along with demolition and site cleanup expenses, which are expected to be as much as $7 million, as part of the $40 million project tab.

So, Uniland wants to use tax money - $3 million of the "peoples' money" - to purchase the building from Taylor, and then another $5 million to, among other things, forever and irrevocably demolish the entire AM&A building. Why? Why does my money have to go into this project at all? If Uniland feels strongly enough not to compromise on the preservation of so much as a stone of the current AM&As, let them fund the project their damn selves. I'll bet there's lots better things we could spend $8 million on in Buffalo. If you really want to rip something down, why not start with the Main Place Mall?

50 worst songs ever

Kelly, the dean of Buffalo Bloggers, engages today in an interesting exercize. Here's a list of the 50 worst songs of all time. You have to highlight the ones you actually LIKE. 1. We Built This City ... Starship 2. Achy Breaky Heart ... Billy Ray Cyrus 3. Everybody Have Fun Tonight ... Wang Chung 4. Rollin' ... Limp Bizkit 5. Ice Ice Baby ... Vanilla Ice 6. The Heart of Rock & Roll ... Huey Lewis and the News 7. Don't Worry, Be Happy ... Bobby McFerrin 8. Party All the Time ... Eddie Murphy (It's so bad, it's good.) 9. American Life ... Madonna 10. Ebony and Ivory ... Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder 11. Invisible ... Clay Aiken (Not that bad. Catchy pop product) 12. Kokomo ... The Beach Boys (It's catchy and has a good provenance) 13. Illegal Alien ... Genesis 14. From a Distance ... Bette Midler 15. I'll Be There for You ... The Rembrandts 16. What's Up? ... 4 Non Blondes 17. Pumps and a Bump ... Hammer 18. You're the Inspiration ... Chicago 19. Broken Wings ... Mr. Mister 20. Dancing on the Ceiling ... Lionel Richie 21. Two Princes ... Spin Doctors (I liked this band back in 1992-3) 22. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) ... Toby Keith 23. Sunglasses at Night ... Corey Hart 24. Superman ... Five for Fighting 25. I'll Be Missing You ... Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112 26. The End ... The Doors 27. The Final Countdown ... Europe 28. Your Body Is a Wonderland ... John Mayer 29. Breakfast at Tiffany's ... Deep Blue Something 30. Greatest Love of All ... Whitney Houston 31. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm ... Crash Test Dummies (See entry 21, supra) 32. Will 2K ... Will Smith 33. Barbie Girl ... Aqua (You like it. Admit it. C'mon Barbie, let's go party) 34. Longer ... Dan Fogelberg 35. Shiny Happy People ... R.E.M. (Featuring the chick from the B-52s). 36. Make Em Say Uhh! ... Master P featuring Silkk, Fiend, Mia-X and Mystikal 37. Rico Suave ... Gerardo 38. Cotton Eyed Joe ... Rednex 39. She Bangs ... Ricky Martin 40. I Wanna Sex You Up ... Color Me Badd 41. We Didn't Start the Fire ... Billy Joel 42. The Sound of Silence ... Simon & Garfunkel 43. Follow Me ... Uncle Kracker 44. I'll Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) ... Meat Loaf 45. Mesmerize ... Ja Rule featuring Ashanti 46. Hangin' Tough ... New Kids on the Block 47. The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You ... Bryan Adams 48. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ... The Beatles (C'mon. The only bad Beatles song is Revolution #9.) 49. I'm Too Sexy ... Right Said Fred 50. My Heart Will Go On ... Celine Dion Let me just say that I cannot tolerate - not for one single, solitary second - John Mayer. But I agree with #1 wholeheartedly.

Erie County Budget not yet settled

I thought, as did most people, that the EC budget was resolved in the wee hours of December 8th. Not so, according to the local news this morning. Al DiBenedetti was interviewed and he said that he no longer supported the penny sales tax increase. He wants bigger spending cuts and wants patronage addressed. Sounds good, you say? He'll only support a sales tax increase of .75 of one penny, raising the local sales tax to a flat 9%. Oooh, boy. I guess NOW I shouldn't feel ripped off anymore. Pathetic.

Zagat's Buffalo

We don't have one, but this is the next-best thing.

Elevator to the Moon

The elevator-to-the-moon plan for the city's waterfront, as proposed by the Lakefront Devlopment Group, gets a well-deserved smack in today's Buffalo News.

A 3,500-room convention hotel. The largest hotel in Erie County now has fewer than 500 rooms. The proposed behemoth will be about 10 times larger than the Marriott, Hyatt, Adam's Mark or Sheraton. Pray tell: Who is going to stay here? What effect will the glut of rooms have on the existing market? A 300,000-square-foot convention center. Yes, our existing center is outdated and too small (110,000 square feet). But funding 300,000 square feet of convention space requires many more conventioneers than we are likely to attract. Consider that conventions live and die on attendance; more attendees equal more revenue for the sponsoring organization

The author goes on to explain why Buffalo has a hard time booking conventions.

500,000-square-foot "festival pavilion." Can you say Millennium Dome? London's boondoggle, built to celebrate the year 2000, is already being dismantled due to lack of funds for upkeep and lack of ideas for its possible use. How often will Buffalo's "festival pavilion" (the size of 10 football fields) be used? How much will it cost to build? Who will pay for the upkeep? 200,000 square feet of Class A office space. If this is not tax-subsidized, fine and dandy. If it is, then why would we undermine downtown development, especially now that downtown is once again beginning to register a pulse? I don't know what the 215,000-square-foot sports center is, but do we need it? We couldn't figure out what to do with Memorial Auditorium, but we need this? The Pepsi Center in Amherst loses money. How will this center make it?

The author likes the Norstar development proposal. I like the WestEnd proposal. Either one is doable. The escalator-to-the-moon proposal isn't.

Pataki & Medicaid

Pataki announced his plan to rein in New York counties' crippling Medicaid bills.

"Groups representing hospitals, nursing homes and health care worker unions were already promising a bitter fight to halt the Republican governor's plan. The opposition's impact on the Legislature could have huge sway on the overall plan this time, though; the governor has threatened he won't move to help the counties cut Medicaid spending unless the Legislature backs his ideas. "

While normally, I'd cynically say that Union opposition probably means it's a good idea, Giambra thinks Pataki's plan is good, so that must mean it's bad. (Follow?) What's Pataki's plan to cap county Medicaid contributions at 2005 levels? Why, tax the hospitals, of course! Along with some requisite cuts in services (which, quite frankly, NYS can afford to do.) I just love that he's just shifting most of the money to another group. So New York. So back-ass-wards. So business-as-usual. Counting the days till Pataki's gone.

Snow

I love the snow. But people who are to effing lazy to brush the snow off their cars should not only be ticketed, but publicly humiliated. And the SUV drivers are the worst offenders. I swear to God, it was sunny above me, but whiteout conditions in front of me because some selfish prick was too lazy and/or stupid to brush the snow off the top of his FordChevy ExpeditionSuburban.

I love this site.

Niagara Falls: Rainbow Centre

Any casual traveler to Niagara Falls knows that there is this garish parking-lot of a building located almost directly across the street from the Falls. The Rainbow Centre was built in the late 1970s to much urban-renewal fanfare. It has been empty for about four years, having failed first as an upscale shopping destination, and later as an outlet mall. Only a gift shop and an OTB parlor remain. The developer of the Rainbow Centre, one David Cordish, seems to have a better track record running his mouth than building stuff. At least in the Falls. Trump and the IRS are going after Cordish for a sweet deal he cut himself for the development of some Indian casinos down in Florida. Karma. Has Niagara Falls ever done anything to enforce its agreement with Cordish, whereby he agreed to run a first-class facility? From our friends at the Niagara Falls Reporter:

"Several years ago, Cordish threatened to sue the Niagara Falls Reporter after the paper published a series of articles detailing his failure to pay property taxes on the Rainbow Centre Mall. No suit was filed and, subsequently, Cordish negotiated a settlement on the taxes. But the problem remains. Since the mall's closing in September 2001, Cordish spokesmen have announced any number of plans for its re-opening. But, like his threatened lawsuit against the Reporter, none of the plans ever materialized. Today, Rainbow Centre sits largely abandoned, housing only the Off-Track Betting parlor. Some of the space is rented to the Seneca Nation of Indians, who use it as a warehouse. In August 2003, Cordish claimed to have spent $8.5 million -- including $2 million in state tax money -- to open Theater in the Mist, an attraction known to locals as the city's largest gift shop.

Theocracy

Don't think the conservatives are also theocrats? Tell it to G.W. Bush's second-favorite Supreme Court Justice, who told this to a reporter in Birmingham, Alabama: "a judge should be evaluated by whether he faithfully upholds his oath to God, not to the people, to the state or to the Constitution" That there is some scary shit. There is a possibility, however, that there is some semantic confusion going on. It still pisses me off to no end that people like this run the country.

Whew.

Hopefully, there will be a lot of members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Reserves, and National Guards who will be relieved to hear that we might not have to invade Syria, after all. Saddam's supposed WMDs ain't there either, you see.

As the hunt for weapons of mass destruction dragged on unsuccessfully in Iraq, top Bush administration officials speculated publicly that the banned armaments may have been smuggled out of the country before the war started. Whether Saddam Hussein moved the WMD - deadly chemical, biological or radiological arms - is one of the unresolved issues that the final U.S. intelligence report on Iraq's programs is expected to address next month. But intelligence and congressional officials say they have not seen any information - never "a piece," said one - indicating that WMD or significant amounts of components and equipment were transferred from Iraq to neighboring Syria, Jordan or elsewhere."

Iran might be a different story, though. One war per term for Mr. Bush?

Liberal bias, or just plain bad?

The republican outrage-du-jour seems to involve a 17-year old Kuwaiti-American who received a failing grade for an essay he wrote. I got the story via Atrios. Apparently, Drudge was excited by this story, and it ultimately found its way to Area B of the right-wing echo chamber; the Washington Times. It's not important, but I find the whole thing funny. First off, the kid should have kept his mouth shut, because he has to reveal his essay in order to make his feeble point. Here's a link to the kid's essay. Objectively speaking, it's a piece of garbage. Here's an analysis of the kid's essay from a poli sci professor. It all makes for some fun reading - for my sick mind, anyway. But here's a comment that I thought was spot-on:

For me there’s something deeper going on—not with this particular case, but it represents a trend among conservative students to blame all bad grades on liberal bias. In fact, what I find is that my conservative students tend to gloss over material that confronts their worldview. Thus when I cover Marx, my conservative students dismiss the material and my lectures, then write poor essays on exams, and then complain of my liberal bias when they receive their grade.

Chicken little. (Ed. Note: Apparently the professor who flunked this semi-literate kid who didn't answer the question presented told the kid he needed "psychological counseling." Totally unreasonable bullshit. The kid needs a writing tutor, not a shrink. Also: don't tell me the kid needs a break because he's a Kuwaiti immigrant. If he can't do the work, he doesn't belong in the class.)

Who cares?

Why is this in Buffalo Business First?

New York ranks fifth among the 50 states when it comes to the production of dog and cat food. So says a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Who cares? Why is the Census Bureau tracking this?

The Jesus fad

Craig blogs about a story indicating that Democrats want to fight fire with fire, and are scouring scripture to back up Democratic policy issues, ostensibly to counter what's become a creepy Republican co-option of the Bible. I'm sick and tired of the Jesus fad. I wish everyone would stop it, already. Stop it with using the Bible for political ends. Everyone. Stop it with the scouring of a thousands-of-years-old book of morality tales to prove any and all conclusions. Just stop it. The more Jesus-faddism creeps into our political lives, the more Taliban-like this country will become. To paraphrase what homophobes say about gay people, just keep your worshipping habits to yourself. I don't want to know about it. I remember fondly when peoples' religion was a private matter. It's not anymore. I don't give a crap who goes to what church or temple or mosque, as long as they're not bothering me with it. Well, when I'm basically told that I'm a hellbound traitor for supporting Kerry, I'm being bothered. The problem is, with the current Jesus fad, everyone who's a member of the club thinks it's great and dandy to hit everyone else over the head with it, and to out-Jesus everyone else. Are you really gonna get in good with the Big Guy if you have a "WWJD" wristband, or if you can cite the exact chapter and verse in the Bible that supports rampant homophobia? The kicker now is the magnetic yellow ribbons with a cross in the middle. Support-our-troops-and-Jesus. Anyone find it just a tad ironic that those yellow ribbons are MAGNETIC?! Makes it so easy to remove once the "support-our-troops" fad wanes, as did the immediate post-9/11 flag-waving. You know, for a country that supposedly cherishes individualism, there sure are a lot of joiners & followers out there, eh?

Kelly Kudos

The Mother of all Buffalo Blogs' author had a piece in the Buffalo News' My View column yesterday. It was wonderfully written, and I truly hope that everything turns out well for his son. It's also refreshing to see a My View piece that is completely free of trite subject matter.

A bit ambitious...

Here's a picture highlighting the Opus East LLC/Waterfront Development Group's proposal for developing the Outer Harbor. The only thing missing is an elevator to the Moon.

Control Board

"BTW...how come no one is blogging the Control Board here in Buffalo..." asks Dave of the FixBuffalo blog. Well, honestly it's because I don't think the Control Board is that big of an issue. I'm actually quite pleased that they're in place and making the tough choices to improve Buffalo's fiscal viability and responsibility. In any event, here's the Control Board's website. By all accounts, the City is in less of a financial mess right now than the once-lauded County.

Peace Bridge News

Christian Menn, the designer behind Boston's stunningly beautiful Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, wants to compete to design the next Peace Bridge.

"I have a very strong and exact understanding of the project needs and the opinions and views of the public," Menn said in an e-mail message from his home in Chur, Switzerland. "And therefore I believe the development of a successful project solution with a very elegant and economic signature bridge is finally within reach."

The more the merrier. And I would tend to listen to the guy who designed this:

I'm not a knee-jerk preservationist, but...

They tore down this: to build this: So, you can see the problem.

More AM&A stuff

Click this link to see why AM&A might be architecturally and historically significant, after all. Props to the not-updated-since-November-2004 Greater Buffalo Blog. Here's an excerpt:

More on AM&A (originally J.N. Adam Co.) Starrett & van Vleck were the premier department store architects in the United States between 1914 and 1945. They were also accomplished skyscraper architects, designing the pioneering Art Deco Downtown Athletic Club in New York in 1926, among others. Flagship stores by Starrett & van Vleck include Lord & Taylor (1914), Sak’s 5th Avenue (1924), Abraham & Strauss (Brooklyn, 1929, ’35), Bloomingdale’s (1930), Alexander's (Bronx, 1938), and J.N. Adam, 1940, 1945 The Buffalo design owes a debt to Louis Sullivan’s Carson-Pirie-Scott store of 1899-1904 in Chicago, as modern in its horizontality (and ahead-of-its-time) as the Guaranty was modern in its verticality. Dean of American architectural historians Vincent Scully: “In the Carson-Pirie-Scott, which we should regard as the last of [Sullivan’s] epoch-making metropolitan images, Sullivan suppressed the vertical columns in order to stress and even to exaggerate the horizontality of the structural bays...The upper floors [are] liberated to take on a kind of horizontal velocity, like that of the busy street they so splendidly define...[The original cornice enhanced] that movement. The building still rides to its intersection as the most effective embodiment so far created of the lush and exhilarating life of the downtown, big-city shopping street.” “In urbanistic terms, the Carson-Pirie-Scott Store was the horizontal, space-defining complement to the…freestanding tower of the Guaranty. The two types…were to shape the major new urban groupings of the middle of the coming century.” Sullivan’s influence can be seen in futuristic drawings of the architectural renderer Hugh Ferris, especially in his detail of Hoover Dam of 1936 and Edward Durrell Stone’s Museum of Modern Art (1939). Terminating the building against the sky without resorting to mere decoration is a central problem in modernist design. In Ferris’s drawing of Hoover dam and Stone’s Met, the cornices consist of a receding top cast in deep shadow by an overhanging planar roof, the edge of which is pratically flush with the wall plane. Hence, in feel, a classic and properly heavy termination of the wall in a sheltering roof without resort to decorative effects which belie the materials and construction techniques used. These buildings can be seen in Starrett & van Vleck’s J.N. Adam store as completed after WWII. Obliquely, the cornice becomes a narrow horizontal slot reinforcing the run of the street. At night, the effect is reversed. The upper floor windows glow from within, while the stout columns are floodlit. Everything above is black. Minoru Yamasaki’s M&T Bank next door attempts a similar effect much less successfully, as do later buildings by Stone, such as the Huntington Hartford Museum in New York and the Buffalo News in Buffalo. The setting back of the M&T building in a deep plaza along Main Street and Eagle somewhat diminishes the effect and intent of the AM&A Eagle Street elevation. It was conceived when the taller Iroquois Hotel rose sheer across Eagle Street. The slot-like openings toward the rear of the Eagle elevation stream like pennants from a glass block vertical shaft marking the division between the Main Street front and the rear.

AM&A: the future of Buffalo might not be shovel-ready

Craig posted about AM&A's on his blog, and and I commented thusly: Subjectively, I think that the Main Street facade of AM&A's is cool. Not pretty. Not historic. Just plain cool. I love it. I walk by that empty pathetic shell of a cool building and picture a bustling Buffalo with an Armani Exchange & Cafe on the ground floor of that very building. The fact that Uniland's got this deal does not make me feel in any way pleased. What does Uniland do? It facilitates sprawl and builds grand business parks in Amherst. I can just picture it now - a business park on Main Street, surrounded by ground-level parking as far as the eye can see. I would much rather like to see Uniland at least preserve the facade of the AM&A building that is visible from Main Street. Tear down the rest to your heart's content. Did I mention I LOVE that facade? Now, Craig says that the AM&A facade is forgettable. He says it's worthless. That it's historically and architecturally insignificant. Maybe all of that's true. Subjectively. But the answer to Buffalo's ills isn't to demolish the inconvenient. The key to attracting local business isn't to exchange the distinctive for the current trend. The future of Buffalo isn't necessarily shovel-ready.

Despite a national request for other plans, only Uniland Development of Amherst has answered the call for proposals to redevelop the long-idle AM&A's department store site in downtown Buffalo. Uniland, which has been eyeing the dormant retail site for nearly two years, has submitted a slightly reworked version of its plan to build a $40 million, eight-story office complex, with underground parking, at 377 Main St. The local developer also is maintaining its pledge to deliver a tenant with about 400 employees to the building, immediately filling half its capacity. "We are pleased to be presenting our vision of 377 Main St. to the Buffalo Urban Development Corp.," Uniland's Tom Widzinski said.

I'll post the counterpoint to the notion that AM&A is historically and architecturally insignificant.

Restaurant Review

I really like this restaurant review. A lot.

The best pizza in WNY

Listen. I grew up in the NYC metropolitan area. I am very particular about what constitutes "good pizza."

• The crust must be relatively thin.
• The bottom of the pizza must touch the floor of the oven; it must under no circumstances be baked on a tray.
• The sauce cannot be too sweet.
• The cheese must be shredded mozzerella, and it must be spread about properly over a thin layer of sauce.
• When you take the pizza in your hand, it must be foldable.
• When you fold the pizza, it must stick straight out; it cannot flop like a bunny's ears.
• When the cheese layer separates from the dough, as is its wont, there must not be a puddle of sauce visible. You should only see the ripply, cooked, tan top of the pizza dough.

The only place in WNY that does authentic NYC-style pizza that I've found? La Hacienda 3019 Pine Ave. (at 31st St.) Niagara Falls, NY 285-7227 Go and say hi to Aldo.

Rudeness

Some of the nicest, friendliest people I've ever encountered were Canadians. In Canada. I always had a positive opinion and impression of Torontonians until today. I spent a couple of hours at some mall off the 401 - I forget the name. (It's near the Dufferin exit). We were jostled and pushed and bumped numerous times - which isn't necessarily horrible, but Jesus H. Christ, can't people at least say "sorry" any more? The people at IKEA in Etobicoke were bastards too, come to think of it. This one Russian-speaking family just rammed their 10-foot long box-filled-with-unknown-but-long-furniture-item into my wife's back. Not so much as a how-dee-doo. Ugh.

WNY Coalition for Progress

Western New York Coalition for Progress has a beta site. Next meeting is 7:00 p.m. Thursday January 27, 2005: Buffalo State Student Center Fireside Lounge

State of the City

A year ago, who'd have thought that Tony Masiello would be in better political shape than Joel Giambra? Who'd have thought that County government would become the laughingstock, while City government was lurching, reluctantly, into fiscal resposibility and solvency? Bizarro World, indeed. So, Masiello gave his State of the City yesterday and one thing leaps out (scroll down or click link to read). Tom Baker, outgoing Control Board chief, thinks that Masiello has every reason to be proud, and the City is on the right track. How 'bout that? While I agree to a certain degree with Donn Esmonde, who says that the city is getting better despite Masiello, rather than because of him, I think Buffalo is getting the help, attention, and resources it needs to become great again. Let me put it this way: in a sick way, I'd like to see more traffic jams on the way to downtown.

The mayor was introduced by his wife, Kate, who described him as a leader who has delivered 'change without chaos.' His speech was preceded by a slick video that highlighted various examples of development, including work on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Noticeably absent in the speech was any mention of a controversy swirling around the forthcoming release of a proposal to merge the city and the county. The issue surfaced only during a brief question-and-answer period when former Lovejoy Council Member Norman M. Bakos called for more public input in shaping the proposal. Masiello reiterated his view that the consolidation plan drafted by a commission that he helped to form will not address the region's real problems, including a shrinking tax base and urban sprawl. The mayor outlined challenges faced by the city, including a 'right-sizing' of the Fire Department, cracking down on unscrupulous real estate investors who 'eat away' at housing stock and continuing to push for changes in Albany that would help cities such as Buffalo. At one point, Masiello acknowledged that the city does not have all the answers or enough resources. He said those realities underscore the importance of forging partnerships with other entities to pursue development initiatives. Masiello also touched on finances, asserting that the city is meeting its obligations to the state financial control board for reducing projected deficits and shrinking the city's work force. Departing control board Chairman Thomas E. Baker attended the event that was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Buffalo, Working for Downtown and the Greater Buffalo Building Owners & Managers Association. He said he thinks that the mayor's upbeat presentation was warranted. 'The mayor is very optimistic, as he should be. TThere are a lot of positive things going on," Baker said, agreeing with Masiello that the city is showing some signs of vitality.

Things are looking up. Now if only Albany would fix State government to make the State-at-large more attractive...

The Bleeding Obvious

In today's Buffalo News, it's noted that Comptroller Hevesi recognizes that Medicaid is out-of-control. Welcome to the discussion, Albany. (sigh) Medicaid is the Tsunami that's washing New York away and killing everyone in its path. (Sorry. I had to say "Tsunami" because it's all I hear about all day).

By the year 2010, Medicaid will cost county governments in New York an additional $1.1 billion in taxes, a third more than this year, the state comptroller concludes in a report made public Thursday. Erie County in five years will need $67 million more than it spends on Medicaid now, the report says, and if the county closed the gap with property taxes, it would have to raise them 40 percent. Chautauqua County would need $16.8 million more, requiring a 32 percent increase in its tax levy. And Niagara County would need $19 million, a 27 percent increase, if the health care program continues to grow at its current rate. 'Medicaid costs are pushing already high local property taxes even higher,' Comptroller Alan Hevesi said, echoing the complaints that leaders in Erie and other counties have voiced for years.

Will Pataki, Silver and Bruno do anything about it? Isn't it pathetic and sad that we have to rely on this SLORC junta triumverate to decide things in NY?

B-lo Bloggers

Big props to Jennifer, who has compiled a definitive list of Buffalo Bloggers at her site. I've culled the ones I'd missed and gave 'em all a link.

More Waterfront

Check out this comment from a Ciminelli representative that I overlooked weeks ago.

Amherst-sur-lac?

Via Buffalog - where do you get this kind of surfing time, Craig?;-) - comes this very spot-on comment from a former Buffalonian, Undercaffeinated. The huge Opus East plan for the waterfront is too everything. Just LOOK AT IT. It looks like the horribly planned Waterfront Village, Transit Road, Erie Basin Marina, Toronto's waterfront, and New York's Javitz center copulated and created this monstrous, illegitimate love-child. It's too damn big, first of all. No one has done anything with the waterfront at all ever. EVER. It's been empty for decades. Now, all of a sudden, they want to build multiple highrises, some low-rise residential condos (like the ones in Waterfront Village that, although popular, do not in any way resemble a "Village"), a bunch of marina space with requisite at-grade parking, a "family park", a massive convention center, some ball fields, some commercial space, and some (presumably) retail space. Just pop - all of a sudden, we have Toronto. It ain't gonna work. Because Toronto is smart enought to know that you need to, for instance, put a Loblaw's within walking distance of the condos. Buffalo (Waterfront Village) can't even get it together to put a Starbucks, a dry cleaner, or a little grocery store within its boundaries. Tell me what's the point of urban living if you can't go to the corner for milk? Sure, some of the ideas are great - building a little canal district with a cool cable-stayed pedestrian bridge, rebuilding the Michigan Avenue bridge, for instance. But let's talk basics first. 1. If you don't expand Metro Rail to this new community, you are WASTING YOUR TIME AND OURS. Without a Metro Rail link to offices, courts, and hospitals you will not attract residents. Who wants to drive 1/2 mile from the Outer Harbor to the Fernbach ramp? It's foolish. 2. Take down the goddamn Skyway. It is an EYESORE. It is DANGEROUS. It is probably the single biggest obstacle to real, tangible inner harbor development. It is unnecessary. We don't need it. No one needs it. Replace it with a drawbridge - we don't even need a tunnel. And make sure Metro Rail uses the bridge, too. 3. Do not build Amherst-sur-lac. We don't need more at-grade parking. Build an adequate underground garage. Or a ramp. We don't need an outdoor e-zone, either. Just build it so that it's aesthetically pleasing to look at and walk through, and people will come. We need retail, retail, retail to be one of the anchors of this project. Give residents someplace to walk to at night, and give visitors something to look at and do. This looks like a mistake to me: What I'm saying is that the WestEnd project is far more desireable, workable, and will not be the public-money-boondoggle that the Opus East project is. (Mark Poloncarz comments below that it will require $300 million in public money)

Tolls are Taxes, Too.

BUFFALOg Craig kindly reposted a letter to the Editor from the Tuesday edition of the News. Apparently, some complete imbecile wrote to the News, saying that toll takers provide a valuable service to the community. Hilarity ensued:

"While at first I thought this to be a rather myopic, self-serving opinion, I suddenly realized that this gentleman was onto something. After doing much research and spending a few hours on the calculator, I believe that I have solved one of the largest problems plaguing Western New York. By simply placing three more toll barriers on the Thruway, two on the Niagara Thruway, three on the Youngmann, four on Route 5, two on Route 20, six on Transit Road and one at the entrance to every mall in the region, we could create many high-paying jobs and create prosperity beyond our wildest dreams."

I'll bet someone in Albany was actually taking notes before they realized it was fricking sarcastic.

Warbloggers vs. the facts

Hmm. Who has picked up the news that we've stopped searching for WMDs because we now acknowledge that they weren't there? Instapundit? Nope. But we do find out about that Constitutional crisis known as "Rathergate" and even about that old Sandy Berger chestnut. Powerlineblog? Nope. But you can get all your Rathergate news there, too. Andrew Sullivan?

We can and should have debates about whether we ever had enough troops to do what we needed to do after initial victory. I'd say it's obvious that Shinseki was correct. Should we have gone to war under the circumstances then prevailing? Probably not. Given the lack of urgency with regard to Saddam's WMDs (yes, this is hindsight, but so is all of this), we obviously should have waited.

Little Green Footballs? Yep. But of course, commenters mention that we're just not looking in the right place. We need to look in Syria. Riiiiight. Syria. I guess they won't be satisfied until we overthrow every available hostile Muslim Baathist dictatorship and create another jihadist haven-cum-US military quagmire. Hooray. Here's the appropriate thread on Fark.

An Abomination.

Welcome to "MeToo" at http://wordsworks.blogspot.com/. MeToo is a commenter on my companion page for the MeToo for reminding me that:

The White House has confirmed that the U.S. search in Iraq for banned weapons, which it earlier cited as justification for the war against Saddam Hussein, has been quietly ended after nearly two years, with no evidence of their existence.

I have so much to say about this, it would take up the better part of this page. Let me self-edit myself, then. First: I do not think Saddam was a good guy. Second: Remember Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky? Remember we were told by the Republicans that it wasn't about the sex, it was about the lying? Well, our sole legal justification for invading Iraq, overthrowing Hussein, and getting ourselves into this absolute horrid mess was: Saddam Hussein refused to abide by UN Security Council resolutions ordering him to destroy his WMDs. We vilified countries like France and Germany, which argued for caution, asking that Hans Blix's inspection team be givem more time to search for alleged WMDs, which we insisted existed. Turns out "Old Europe" was right and we were wrong. Turns out we owe Hans Blix an apology for bad-mouthing him right before we invaded Iraq. Turns out thousands of young American men and women, and countless innocent Iraqi civilians, have died either because Bush and his team knowingly or negligently lied. (Knowingly = they knew there was nothing there and used the UN resolutions as a pretext to get the guy who tried to kill Bush's daddy. Negligently = our supposedly crack, post-9/11 security and intelligence services were so inept and prone to political pressure, that we got it oh, so very, very wrong). And the fact that the same crowd that screamed for "Klintoon's" and "Hitlery's" blood because of the "lying" don't give a shit about this. They think it's dandy. They've convinced themselves into thinking that, if they just put a magnetic "Support our Troops" and "God Bless America" emblem on the back of their Tahoes, Trailblazers, and Explorers, that they're doing their part. Going to war because we're too lazy to find out the truth is an abomination.

January in Buffalo?

It's sunny and 63 degrees. At 10:20 a.m. Peak sun hasn't arrived yet. Neat. The record for this day is 65 degrees. The forecast for today is 66.

Outer Harbor Development

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership and Joel Giambra's office must like the Opus East LLC plan for outer harbor development the best. How do we know? Because the Buffalo News says that plan is the "likely" winner. Some highlights:

• A 300,000-square-foot convention center.
• A 3,500-room convention hotel and winter garden complex.
• More than 1,000 apartments, townhouses and condominiums.
• A 500,000-square-foot festival pavilion.
• A 215,000-square-foot sports center.
• A 150-suite hotel/water park/aquarium complex.
• 200,000 square feet of Class A office space.
• 236 boat slips.

I prefer the WestEnd plan, but since I'm not Andrew Rudnick, nobody gives a rat's ass. And don't ever expect to see this thing built. Not the way it's set out now. This is Buffalo. This will be mired in litigation for eons. /cynicism

Feeding at the public trough

What do you do your first month of feeding on the public trough? Why, go on vacation, of course!

"When Mayor Anthony M. Masiello swore in his 'Team Fire' in December, he outlined the daunting challenges the new leaders face as they begin overhauling fire services. A short time later, two new deputy commissioners who started their $89,372 jobs the first week in December took actions that didn't go unnoticed by some firefighters. They went on vacation. David C. James and J. Gregory Love were only following city policy, officials insisted. An obscure provision allows noncivil service employees appointed by Buffalo's elected officials to take up to two weeks' vacation during the calendar year in which they're hired. As a result, James and Love were each entitled to 10 days' vacation in 2004, even though they were only on the payroll for a month. James said he took six days of vacation last month. Love took five. They decided to take some of their allotted time after an administrator called to tell them about the standard practice. 'We wouldn't have taken any time if we hadn't received that phone call,' said Love, a former fire administrator in Detroit who has become Buffalo's deputy commissioner for field operations. 'There's nothing wrong with it,' said Employee Relations Director Louis R. Giardina. 'That has been our policy.' "

Maybe, Mr. Giardina, it's time to change the goddamn bloody policy.

219 Expansion

Looks like Buffalonians and Torontonians(?) will soon have a quicker way to reach Ellicottville and points further South. The State DOT wants to start extending the 219 southwards. Good.

Amazing Rant

Amazing Race (Tuesdays at 9 on CBS) is my all-time favorite show. I'm just waiting for them to come out on DVD. Anyway, this year's cast is packed with completely vile and despicable people. All but one of the nice teams has already been eliminated. The only couple that's consistently nice to each other and to other teams is Kris & Jon (long distance dating). That's it. Jonathan & Victoria cannot win. They are despicable, self-centered, obnoxious, vile excuses for human beings. They deserve each other. Hayden and Aaron: barely escaped elimination because Hayden would rather bitch at Aaron than work together to get ahead. She's a jerk. Bolo and Lori: should have been eliminated long ago. For a couple of people so muscle-bound and buff, they have zero stamina. None. Freddy and Kendra: She's absolutely a disgusting human being. Ever since they stopped in Senegal and she complained about being in "ghetto Africa" I've hated her. And him for being with her. Blecch. Disgusting. Phooey. Adam and Rebecca: She's just mean and domineering, while he's totally a wimp. They met at the gym, and again - for a guy who's so in shape, he sure can't handle even moderate physical or mental stress. They bicker and treat each other like crap. Maybe if most of these teams concentrated on being better people rather than on the shape of their bodies, they'd be better off. Anyway, the only team I can root for is Kris & Jon. If they're eliminated, I'll be rooting for whoever can get Jonathan & Victoria eliminated. It looks like most other viewers agree with me.

Waterfront Update

The New Millenium Group supports the "WestEnd" plan for developing the waterfront. Here's a link to the WestEnd plan, and a pic: You might recall that I reached that same conclusion some time ago.

"We believe the WestEnd plan incorporates some of the best ideas in urban planning -- fine-grained, walkable neighborhoods of lasting value and at an affordable price to the public," says Charles Banas, a New Millennium Group representative. The NFTA directors are expected to name a designated developer for the 120-acre outer harbor area during the board's Jan. 24 meeting. The directors, before their vote, will review input from a blue-ribbon panel and from community sessions.

Metro Rail expansion

According to a Business First-Goldhaber Research poll, a clear majority of WNY residents favors an expansion of Metro Rail out to the airport. Not just Buffalonians, and not just Metro users - but a majority of all WNYers.

Metro Rail, originally proposed as a 29-mile subway system with 47 stations, opened in 1985 as a six-mile link between Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and the University at Buffalo's South Campus. Creation of a second line has been discussed during the past 20 years, but the NFTA has not formally committed itself to expansion.

C'mon NFTA. Get your heads out of the sand and do something.

Cobblestone

IMHO, the Cobblestone district, just next to HSBC Arena, is really the great hope for urban revival in downtown and the inner harbor area. A cluster of restaurants, bars, shops, and residential apartments/condos would make for a vibrant and historic area. Happily, the News reported yesterday that two local developers have teamed up to develop what I hope will be the first phase of Cobblestone revitalization. Good luck to them. This is good news for Buffalo, and hopefully a good business decision for the developers.

Hey: iPod users!

All of you PC owners who love your iPod, listen up. A lot of you said you'd consider switching to a Mac if the price were lower. Now you have no excuse. Mac mini: $499. Use your existing PC (USB) keyboard & mouse, and your existing monitor and USB printer. 40GB hard drive, iLife software. I bought a Mac for my home 2 years ago and have never looked back.

Who gets it and who doesn't?

Via NYCO, we have two press releases concerning promises of "reform" in Albany. For your perusal, the Assembly presser; and the Senate presser. Check out the letterhead for each one. Who gets it?

Slowly I turned...

As always, the fellas at the brassy Niagara Falls Reporter aren't giving their city government an inch.

"People around town are still chuckling about Mayor Vince Anello's self-serving column, plastered across the front page of The Other Paper last week, entitled 'Anello looks back at 2004 accomplishments.' And I thought Staba and I were the only ones who wrote funny local political commentary. For those of you who have never read it, Anello's column -- 'Ask the Mayor' -- always begins with a softball question he's made up and then drags on for 750 or 1,000 words as he answers himself. There's no editorial oversight whatsoever -- he's free to say whatever he wants and have it printed on the front page as though it were fact. The question last week was simple and straightforward: 'What do you see as your accomplishments in your first year in office?' But from the beginning of his reply, it appeared that Anello had bitten off more than he could chew. 'Staying focused, continuing with a strong work ethic and a high level of enthusiasm,' he began. These are accomplishments? I'm sure that most McDonald's employees could say the same thing. No one ever asks them to write about it in a front-page column, though. In the second paragraph, Anello goes on to list yet another example of what has been consuming him during his one-year reign of error. 'Not becoming distracted by those who wallow in cynicism and berate our city and its public servants for perverse pleasure and personal gain,' he wrote. Wow, he didn't become distracted. Isn't that kind of the same thing as staying focused? I read on eagerly, half expecting him to report next that he'd mastered the art of walking and chewing gum at the same time. "

If the Niagara Falls Reporter isn't a regular read for you, it should be. (It comes out weekly - posted to the web usually by Monday afternoon). This week's issue is its 200th. Congratulations.

Shop Wegmans

It's the best company to work for in the US. That's pretty damn impressive.

NAIAS

If you're into cars like I am, check out Autoblog, which is blogging direct from the floor of the Detroit Car Show (AKA North American International Auto Show).

Heads roll at CBS

A bunch of people were canned as a result of the report of an independent commission investigating just how CBS got duped into airing the false Bush memos several months ago. Good. And to all the conservatives: At least CBS investigates its mistakes and seeks to eliminate the "appearance of political bias." That's what our news broadcasters should be doing whenever they report a bunch of crap. When's Sinclair and FNC going to investigate their damn selves? And FNC is really a misnomer, isn't it? There's hardly any news at all - AT ALL - on that channel. It's nothing but Crossfire-type dreck, 24 hours per day, except for Shepard Smith's 7pm newscast. Honestly - that one hour is the only real newscast FNC does all day. Other than that, the only news "reported" is done at the top of the hour for about 2 minutes.

Friends

Some sites/blogs of note: This is Ali is a Buffalo blogger of Pakistani descent. Courtesy of Buffalog Craig, we have the conservative, statewide New York Statements. And, Friends of Rural NY, looking at things from a farming perspective.

On County Govt

In comments to the previous post, Buffalog Craig gives some good reasons why we need county government. While I sympathize with the idea that the government that's closest to the people will be most responsive to their needs, I think comparing US government to the UK's is apples & oranges. Setting aside for a moment the EU, the UK has only three strata of domestic government - the national government (Parliament & cabinet), shire governments, and local governments. Our county government is akin to Britain's shires. There are no states in England, (although Scotland does have its own national parliament). In other words, they've already got one less stratum of government than we New Yorkers. Sure, Albany sucks, but what does the county do that Amherst can't? Every stratum of government in New York serves one major purpose: to tax us. Seems to me getting rid of one taxing legislature wouldn't be so bad.

*Gasp* heresy!

Hi. In 50 words or less, please explain to me why on earth New York State needs county governments AT ALL. What is it that county government does that can't be done by Albany and the municipalities? Why is it that we tolerate a stratum of government that exists only to carry out Albany mandates while imposing its own, extra sales tax on top of the state sales tax? In 1997, almost all county government in Massachusetts (5% sales tax, 5.25% flat income tax) was abolished.

For many years, there was criticism of county government as wasteful and inefficient. There were recommendations to abolish all county governments and transfer most of their functions to state agencies and their assets (land and buildings) to the Commonwealth. In 1997, Middlesex county government was abolished followed by the abolition of Berkshire, Essex, Hampden and Worcester county governments. Their functions were turned over to state agencies. Sheriffs in these counties still administer jails but their employees are state employees. The legislation to abolish these county governments transferred Registeries of Deeds to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Registers of Deeds and probate, sheriffs and district attornies, even where county government has been abolished, are still elected in county political districts. In counties which have not been abolished or restructured, county commissioners and treasurers are still elected. It is important to understand that counties as geographical/political regions are not abolished or restructured; it is the government which is abolished/restrucutred. Home rule legislation allows officials or voters in a county to establish a regional charter commission to study its government. The commission can submit one of three model charters for approval of voters in that county at a statewide election or it can submit a special charter which must first be approved by the state legislature. Cities and towns may choose a Regional Council of Government charter which will be binding on those communities where a majority of voters in a city or town approve it. The regional council of governments can provide a variety of services to cities and towns, such as planning, public safety, engineering, water and waste disposal, and many other services. The participating communities pay assessments based on local property evaluation.

Why can't we?

Hey Donn, who's better than Tony?

Donn Esmonde rips Masiello a new one in his column today. So, who's better than Tony? Joel? Sam? Byron?

"A city-county merger is inevitable. It's got to happen, economically, for the survival of the region." - Tony Masiello, Feb. 16, 2003. In a turnaround stunning only to the terminally naive, Tony Masiello turned his back this week on the city-county merger panel. Masiello distanced himself from the commission, even though he's on it and helped to pick the panelists. It's like Groucho Marx's line about not wanting to belong to any club that would have him as a member. Weeks before the 11-member panel reveals the fruits of its labors, Masiello whacked at the tree he helped to plant. It's nothing new. Masiello leans whichever way the political wind blows. Two years ago, he joined hands with Joel Giambra on a city-county police merger. Months later, he left Giambra standing at the altar by re-upping on the city police contract.

Well, as I mentioned the other day, and as Esmonde echoes, Masiello is jumping off the SS Giambra. And all of Esmonde's points in his column are well-taken.

If Masiello doesn't like this plan, where's his idea? The guy has been mayor for 11 years. He makes $105,000 and is surrounded by staffers. The city gains the most of any burg from real, help-the-hub regionalism. When has he ever come up with anything? Giambra is less popular these days than a wet dog. But he has pushed his brand of regionalism for years and is the force behind the merger panel. Even a private citizen, regionalism activist Kevin Gaughan, came up with a merger plan. Gaughan did it on his own time, on his own dime. The mayor sits there, waits for everybody else to do something, then dumps on a merger panel he's part of weeks before it delivers. And this guy wants to be mayor again?

True - where is Masiello's plan? Or will he back Gaughan's plan? Or will he back no plan whatsoever? What is Masiello's point in all this? But can Esmonde really be surprised that Masiello wants to distance himself from Giambra? Who's waiting in the wings to be a better mayor, right now? Gaughan is the only name I can conjure. I said better mayor. And IMHO, Hoyt and Brown are the same-old-same-old products of the machine. They will merely preserve and protect their individual fiefdoms and special interests. (Prove me wrong, fellas.) Like Pataki, Giambra and Masiello are politically finished. There is no elective government position that these guys can earn, beyond where they are now. The question becomes: who will take their place? Will Albany get a real reformer and real reform? Will Buffalo elect an active mayor with vision, or stick with passive? Will Erie County elect a CE who is more concerned about the betterment of the whole county, or a guy who perpetuates and enhances the rift between city and suburb, and whose job #1 is to enrich his friends and family? Tune in ... same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

Buffalo Sidewalks

My office is on the waterfront, and I walked up the hill today for a meeting on Main Street. Along the way, I had a choice: I could walk along a glaze of sheer ice; or I could walk in the street. My choice, again: Fall and get hurt, or get hit by a car. The sidewalks in question are adjacent to the WNED parking lot, (except for a small patch or two), and near St. Joseph's Cathedral. My understanding is that the adjacent landowner is supposed to clear the sidewalk. Did you know that there was a "pedestrian advocate" who, until about yesterday, was trying to work with the City to enhance enforcement of the sidewalk shoveling law?

As the city launches a blitz to try to get people to shovel their sidewalks, a high-profile pedestrian advocate is quitting the effort in disgust. Bill Durfee claims the city has no intention of enforcing its sidewalk shoveling law and says he is "bloody furious" over what he called the Masiello administration's feeble excuses to justify lax enforcement. "I am throwing in the towel," Durfee informed the mayor's office in a scathing two-page letter. "I have a large mantel at home. I will simply pound my head against it rather than put up with any more frustration from City Hall."

Amen, brother.

A question to ask a NY politician

Whether he/she be local, county, state, or federal: A. Do you believe that your responsibility is to better the lives of all Western New Yorkers? Or, B. Do you believe that your duty is only to your supporters and the particular pet projects and special interests who have allied themselves with you and have donated to your campaign chest? That's a simple question that all of them should have to answer. And they'll all say that, yes, they are committed to A: bettering all of WNY. But their actions will underscore that, in fact, they're all about B. Personal gain, personal aggrandizement, and the enrichment of cronies and special interests.

Suozzi damaged goods?

This was brought to my attention today. I have to say I wasn't aware of this before, and it sheds new light on the leader of the FixAlbany movement.

"3[rd biggest Long Island story of 2004]. Peter Sylver Scandal Nassau County's Watergate, complete with sexual abuse charges, is a shocker that has it all: allegations of missing millions of federal grant monies earmarked for the poor, top officials having mysterious overnight rendezvous in luxurious hotel rooms, accusations of sexual misdeeds, damning videotape, a cover-up, payoff, confidentiality agreements, patronage jobs�you name it. And at the center of it all was County Executive Tom Suozzi and his handpicked Deputy County Executive Peter Sylver. There were multiple investigations, FBI raids targeting computers and county documents, whispers of voter fraud and records-shredding parties, massive firings, missing witnesses, sketchy business arrangements with even sketchier characters, and all of it at the vortex of a massive media frenzy. It seemed as though this thing led all the way to the top. The Nassau County Legislature's Rules Committee held hearings, only to have the testimony shut down before any of the actual truth could be dug out. Sylver was arrested, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges, including harassment for inappropriate physical contact with a woman, and got three years' probation. Some believe he took the bullet for much bigger fish, and that he holds the keys to other doors. Many unanswered questions remain. And the whole thing erupted because a few county employees refused to commit crimes when they came to work and instead decided to blow the whistle. "

Not good.

Suozzi to challenge Spitzer?

NYCO reports on the goings-on in Albany and reports that FixAlbany's Tom Suozzi met for an hour with Silver and Bruno in a "constructive" way. The word is that Suozzi may challenge Spitzer. I'd go with Suozzi. The word is also that Pataki ain't running in 2006 at all. I'm down with that, too.

State of the State roundup

The upstateblog carries a great round-up of the reaction throughout New York State to Pataki's State of the State address. Binghamton:

These are speeches intended to boost morale -- and to cast the executive in flattering light (and to cast critics as party-poopers). It doesn't matter which political party affiliation the speaker carries; they all ac-cen-tu-ate the positive. Which is fine. But citizens aren't obligated to swallow the bromides or detach themselves from reality. New Yorkers, for example, know there's a $6 billion budget deficit even if the governor ignores it. They recall his vow never to seek a third term even as he reportedly contemplates a fourth. They understand his dedication to New York didn't prevent him from spending much of last year flitting around the country raising money for President Bush's re-election campaign. They don't mind him pointing fingers at the state Legislature, however, because that shameful collection of invertebrates deserves the undiluted scorn of every New Yorker. It hasn't adopted a budget on time since way before Pataki ever became governor, and last year it refused a court order to reform the school aid formula. No -- things aren't very good in New York right now, especially in upstate New York, where the economy continues to stutter.

Albany:

"To quote a great New Yorker, Al Smith, 'The American people never carry an umbrella. They prepare to walk in the eternal sunshine.' " Al Smith was talking about America's perpetual optimism. Why in the world Pataki reached for that particular metaphor at this gloomy moment in New York history is beyond me.

New York City:

But to listen to George Pataki's 2005 State of the State Address, you'd never know the budget was a problem at all. In a speech draft fully two-thirds longer than the 1995 version, Pataki's message on Albany's overriding fiscal challenge was: silence. The looming deficit for the coming fiscal year simply went unmentioned. Instead, the governor devoted the better part of an hour to reciting what is a now-familiar compendium of his administration's greatest hits.

The ultra-conservative New York Sun:

What planet is Governor Pataki on? That's the question we were left with yesterday after watching his State of the State address. The governor is facing a multibillion-dollar budget gap, in a state that already has the highest state and local tax burden in the country. The editorialists at the Wall Street Journal are warning that the state, under Mr. Pataki's leadership, is slipping into "a French-style decline." Mr. Pataki responded yesterday with a speech in which he announced an executive order "requiring all state agencies and authorities to begin using nontoxic cleaning products that are free of harmful chemicals." And in which he vowed, "We will add 20 new bird conservation areas to the 28 we've created since 1995."

You know, Pataki is a uniter, not a divider. Pretty much everyone who is not a NYS employee in Albany agrees that Albany, and NYS, are really, really messed up and in horrific shape. We need Arnold Schwarzenegger. Instead, we have a faceless extra.

Giambra's new chauffeur.

Kings ride in style. Kings don't drive - they are driven. That's why King Joel joins only three other NYS county executives who use drivers. (Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, all of which are wealthier and fiscally healthier than Erie County).

"A soon-to-retire sheriff's deputy will become Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra's new driver, with his salary capped at $30,000 a year as a condition of his pension. No one has been named as of yet"

Joel explains that he can get work done while being driven around - writing, reading and being on the phone. Erie County ain't that big, and the traffic doesn't even come close to that in Westchester, Suffolk, or Nassau counties. Joel : do what those of us in the dreaded private sector do and GET A HEADSET FOR YOUR CELLPHONE. I think Tracy Diina's got one you can use. And we don't want to affect that guy's pension, now do we? Fricking joke. That would be an outrage under a proper, non-banana-republic government. This means that the driver will be pulling a NYS-income-tax-free state pension, which is probably north of $50k/year AND get 30k as Joel's chauffeur. I'm such a goddamn schmuck for having gone to law school. I should have just befriended and brownnosed some politically connected guy right out of high school, and I'd be making some cool bucks driving around. Victor Getz, Giambra's former driver & patronage "czar", is now reassigned to a job at the Parks Department that pays less than his former $81,000. EXCEPT...according to Illuzzi, Getz can pull in overtime at his new job, which he couldn't do while he was Giambra's AA. Sucking at the public teat and mauing at the public trough. Must be nice to be so cavalier with public money. Must be refreshing to be conscience-free.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot.

Poor Joel Giambra. He just can't catch a break, can he? Our pals at WNYMedia.net report on an interview Joel gave to his official organ WBEN yesterday.

In the Interview, Joel Giambra refered to the City of Buffalo as a 'warehouse for the poor'." The comments were sparked when Mayor Anthony Masiello said he does not support a proposed merger of Buffalo with Erie County, even though he helped form the commission making consolidation recommendations.

You know - even if you THINK that, if you're the CE of the county that not only contains Buffalo, but of which Buffalo is the county seat, maybe it's not such a smart comment to make. Maybe it doesn't...reflect positively...on your own County government's competence and ability to do good for the region. Not only that, but IIRC, Giambra himself lives (probably reluctantly) in the City limits. Not only that, but IIRC, Giambra used to be a member of city government (i.e., Comptroller - HA! what a joke) during the time of the city's good ole decline. Which leads to another question: who the hell is surprised that Joel Giambra is presiding over the decline of the County's solvency when he was the fiscal watchdog during Buffalo's decline? Duh.

County Executive Joel Giambra wants voters to decide the fate of the plan. The commission hopes to put the plan on the ballot in the November elections. Giambra was in in Albany yesterday to seek relief from Medicaid mandates by the state. County Executives from across the state are meeting with leaders of the state Legislature and the Pataki administration in an effort to get the state to ease their Medicaid burdens -- which the county leaders say threaten the delivery of local services. Business leaders say the state's Medicaid costs also are a drag on the state's business climate. Erie County Executive Joel Giambra says Governor Pataki is seeking Medicaid cost containment measures in the Legislature, although the Buffalo-area official says he's worried that some of the proposals have been rejected by legislators in the past. Counties and New York City pay about 20 percent of Medicaid costs in New York, with the state covering about 30 percent and the federal government 50 percent.

Brownshirtin' it.

That Adam Yoshida. The lonely Canadian fascist. He says we shouldn't give a "f*ck" about "terrorists" we torture. (Although there's no evidence that, for instance, anyone abused at Abu Ghraib was a "terrorist." He actually argues that there haven't been enough people abused or tortured. No, really. He does.

People are such babies nowadays. A hundred years ago people caught fighting out of uniform in the fashion that the terrorists do would have been executed virtually on the spot. The left is always prattling on about how the Earth’s resources are limited. You’d think they’d see the summary execution of captured terrorists as a good way of preserving our natural resources.

This guy belongs in Bellevue. As for the story that some Gitmo prisoners were flown to Egypt, so we could out-source our torture? He asks:

1) Why are we outsourcing our torture, thus depriving hard-working American pain technicians of much needed work?

Here's the thing: before you dismiss Yoshida as a far-rightist crank - an aberration, just surf on over to the good folks at Lucianne.com. They want a return to HUAC, so that "traitorous" Democrats who dare to question or oppose administration policies can be dealt with. This is the Limbaugh listenership - a pretty big number of people, IIRC. The Freepers - also Limbaugh/Savage/Hannity listeners also are pro-torture. As a former republican, I wasn't fooled by the GOP convention dog & pony show of "moderates" like Giuliani, Arnold, etc. The party is run by people like Tom Delay - an evil emeffer. It caters to dittoheads who think the thinks shown above. I know that there are whackjobs on the left, too, and that many of them are straight Dems, rather than RCYB members. But you know what? Right now, I'm more able to tolerate people who want the workers to own the means of production, than I am able to tolerate freepers and Lucianne posters.

State of the State

Pataki delivered his 11th State of the State today in Albany. Newsday has the full text. Thus spake Nero:

"I introduced a new philosophy that day - I asked you to join me in seeking not just incremental change, but rather 'bold, sweeping fundamental change:' change to improve the lives of all New Yorkers. Now, a decade later, I hope you'll indulge me as I reflect on what we've achieved together, and more importantly, outline the steps we must take today to build on that great achievement."

No shit, sherlock. Easily the first third of the address has to do with the decrease in the crime rate in NY. Then 9/11 predictibly comes up. You have to scroll down a ways to get to the first real mention of Upstate, and then it's lauding businesses who are locating outside of NYC, but in NYS. Yay. It takes a while, but eventually he calls for medicaid relief/reform, and the following seven items: 1. Reform our state's lobbying laws. 2. Impose a ban on all gifts from lobbyists. 3. Bold reforms and improvements at our public authorities. 4. A new Executive Order establishing a new, broadly inclusive Commission on Public Authority Reform to explore new ways to continue promoting greater openness and accountability at all public authorities, whether at the state or local level. 5. Move aggressively forward with the elimination or consolidation of hundreds of commissions, task forces, boards and authorities that have been established over the course of many decades. 6. A new commitment in both houses to make internal reforms… to give members a greater voice, to improve the day-to-day operations of the Legislature, and to help strengthen public confidence in our government. 7. Topple the most notorious symbol of Albany's dysfunction…enact a real budget reform bill that opens up the process, empowers individual legislators and ensures balanced and on-time budgets. So, do it. If anything, it's not ambitious enough.

Buffalo News on Albany's shenanigans.

The News has an editorial today about the continuing gamesmanship in Albany. NYS Government is like a mandatory casino. We all have to pay, but only a select few get to cash out. It's also quite clear that there's not a single soul with any sort of juice in Albany who's serious about reform. Especially not in the Senate. Wouldn't it be nice if New York State was a representative democracy? 'Cause it sure ain't now.

The lawmakers' desire to evade the consequences of not meeting their responsibility explains the push for a flabby contingency budget that essentially substitutes for the budget extenders that legislators periodically pass to keep the government functioning beyond the budget deadline. A Legislature that was serious about fixing a problem as long-standing and consequential as this would insist on a contingency budget that truly squeezes spending. That's how to ensure deadline compliance: by making the alternative unpalatable. But that's not what either the vetoed budget or the Senate's follow-up did. More than anything else, the vetoed budget plan tried to wrest control over the budget from the governor's office. Now the Senate, after deciding not to override Pataki's veto, has merely sought to save face.

Masiello Muscle

Tony M. is flexing and representin'.

"It would be irresponsible to support something that does not fix the problem," Masiello said. "I'm not convinced this does that." The mayor, who is familiar with what the commission will recommend, offers some hope the panel will still heed his objections. Nevertheless, he is sharpening his criticism, which has become more pointed over the past few weeks. Because the plan ignores "core problems" like increasing the city's tax base or dealing with expensive state mandates like Medicaid, Masiello said the recommendations of a panel headed by former University at Buffalo President William R. Greiner offer little benefit to the city and result only in the merger of two weak governments. With Erie County's own fiscal problems expected to continue, he wonders what benefits will result. "If I thought this new entity would create excitement and investment in the core of our region, I'd be inclined to support it," he said. "But until you fix Medicaid or fix the ability to control fringe benefits and pension costs of the city and county, you just have the problems of two governments."

My, how the tables have turned. How the mighty have fallen. This time last year, King Joel could do know wrong, and poor Tony M. was the court jester, presiding over a dying, broke city. King Joel has, essentially, overthrown himself. There was a palace coup - King Joel the purported reformer replaced himself with Joel of Business-as-Usual. Joel blames all his woes on Medicaid. Everyone knows that's just one piece of the puzzle. Joel's mismanagement, cronyism, nepotism, and ego round out the list. There's probably more I can't even think of. And Nancy, poor Nancy. The watchdog is nothing more than a lapdog. Signing King Joel's checks, while auditing and criticizing ever-too-little, ever-too-late. King Joel has even done the unthinkable, the unforgivable - he's rended the local GOP asunder, separating the old-school-Dems-in-Repub-clothing Giambracrats from the real Republicans. Kevin Gaughan - a guy who's not from here. A guy who has actually lived under local administrations that are professional and know what the hell they're doing. A guy who got himself an Ivy League education and is obviously no dummy, has been the driving force behind regional government. He has a plan for regional government, and has been working on it for nigh on 5 years. Go to www.onebuffalo.com to see what an educated professional proposes. Since Giambra's ego refuses to let him be a tag-along guy on anything, he petulantly refuses to sign on to Gaughan's plan (just like he won't sign on with Suozzi's FixAlbany.com). Oh, no - he has to make his own plan - one that (more likely than not) maintains just enough status quo to ensure that the marginally competent Victor Getzes of the world can continue to get their highly paid, barely-show jobs. So, Tony M. and Joel had to start their own commission to merge city and county governments. Tony M. wants off the sinking SS. Giambra. And fast. Can't say I blame him. The city's fiscal situation is in better shape than the county's now. Giambra has lost his last trump card - he can't positively compare county government to the city's anymore.

Mr. Higgins goes to Washington

Mr. Higgins goes to Washington.: I wish him luck. As a freshman Dem in the House, he's gonna need it. But let me tell you something - he got things done in the notoriously corrupt NYS Assembly. That says a lot about the guy, AFAIC.

Higgins is seeking an appointment to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which directs billions in construction money to localities. Quinn and his predecessor, Henry J. Nowak, a Democrat, both served on that panel, and Higgins sees a seat there as a key to funding to fix Buffalo's highways and reviving its waterfront. But if a vacancy opens up on the House Appropriations Committee - which allocates most federal dollars outside of Social Security and other entitlements - Higgins plans to try to move to that all-powerful panel. 'It's a reflection of the needs of the area,' Higgins said. 'I want to be a leader in Western New York,' he added, saying he will focus on local funding issues rather than bigger-picture national politics.

As I've said before, NYS is a net contributor of Federal taxes, while almost every single Bush-votin', tax-hatin' red state is a net recipient I certainly hope that, since there's federal money being thrown around, we get our fair share. I'm not in the mood to subsidize the states that are living off our cash-money.

Okay.

Mary Kunz's politics are downright ignorant. But she's got a good idea here - that Buffalo should stop griping about the snow, and its snowy reputation and instead embrace it. London, Seattle and Vancouver all have gloomier weather than Buffalo, and they thrive.

Dumbest editorial today.

The good folks at the ultra-conservative Manchester (NH) Union-Leader editorialize today on the story that New Hampshire's own Timberland is giving employees a 3,000 credit if they purchase a hybrid vehicle. That sum basically offsets the extra cost of most hybrids. Right now, the only available hybrids are the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, and Ford Escape. A Lexus is coming soon.

"The laws of physics dictate that, all else being equal, larger and heavier vehicles are safer than smaller and lighter ones. In relation to their numbers on the road, small cars have more than twice as many occupant deaths each year as large cars," reads the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's guide, "Shopping for a Safer Car." For some people, the utility of a pickup or SUV, or the safety of a heavy sedan, are more important than the higher mileage and lower emissions of a small car. If your child is killed in a collision, it is no comfort to know that at least you polluted a little less before the crash. For others, small vehicles are a better fit, whether for environmental or practical reasons. Neither side is necessarily more virtuous than the other. Timberland's cash for hybrid program is well-intentioned, to be sure. But employees who decide to take the company up on its offer and switch from a large vehicle to a small hybrid will want to know the risk involved. While hybrid vehicles are a great invention, only Ford makes one (the Escape) that is not small, and it is hardly large. Until auto makers figure out how to get high mileage and low emissions from heavy vehicles, purchasers of hybrid cars will sacrifice safety for a smaller environmental impact. That is a trade-off not everyone will be willing — or should be expected — to make.

The thesis of this idiotic rambling? EVERYONE WHO OWNS ANYTHING SMALLER THAN A TRAILBLAZER: RUN! HIDE! YOU'RE NOT SAFE!!! What poppycock. Note what I've highlighted above: ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL. Well, they're not equal. Not by a longshot. Cars must be built to very exacting emissions and safety regulations. Trucks don't. Here's a safety statistic or two from the very IIHS that the Union-Leader quotes: IN A 40 MPH OFFSET-FRONTAL COLLISION, YOU ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE INJURED IN THE FRONT SEAT OF A MINI COOPER THAN IN A CHEVY TRAILBLAZER SUV, A CHEVY VENTURE/PONTIAC MONTANA MINIVAN, OR A JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE. The same goes for the Honda Accord, the Honda Civic, and the Honda Insight, all of which are available with hybrid engines - in the Insight's case, only available. In fact, those cars aren't just better in a front-end collision, they're BEST PICKS for Chrissakes. Chevy Trailblazer: MARGINAL frontal protection; Chevy Venture/Olds Silhouette/Pontiac Montana: POOR frontal protection Jeep Grand Cherokee: MARGINAL frontal protection Honda Accord: BEST PICK frontal protection Honda Civic: BEST PICK frontal protection MINI Cooper: BEST PICK frontal protection Here are some selections from the Federal NHTSA's safety crash testing: 2004 Cadillac Escalade: 4-star frontal protection. 2004 Chevy Suburban: 4-star frontal driver, 3-star frontal passenger protection. The 2003 Suburban tested 3 stars for rollover protection. 2004 Trailblazer: 3-star front impact protection, 5-star side impact. Ford Explorer: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/3299.html The driver's door latch opened during side impact. 3-star rollover. 2004 Toyota Prius: 5-star front driver, 4-star front psgr, 4-star side impact, 4-star rollover. 2004 Scion xA: 4-star front & sides. Rollover not tested. 2005 VW Golf: 5-star front, 4-star side. 2005 Honda Civic: 5-star front & side, 4-star rollover. 2004 Accord: 5-star front, 5-star side rear, 4-star side front. 2004 Honda Insight: 4-star all around. So, the point is that smaller cars are built to be strong and safe, and to withstand the impact from a Hummer driver who is chatting on his cellphone and mangeing some breakfast. Not only that, but your child is safer in the front seat of a Mini than in a Grand Cherokee, if you get into a severe front-end collision. And we haven't even mentioned Volvo or Saab, now have we?

Griping about the weather

I know it's futile, but is it too much to ask that we have two or three consecutive sunny days? Can someone tell me the last time we had that?

A special type of stupid

Surfed on over toAdam Yoshida's "Volksische Beobachter on the Burrard Inlet" today to discover that: 1. Putin is a very good man and good leader; 2. Pinochet and Franco were very good men and good leaders; 3. That to compare Putin to Pinochet and Franco is positive. The young Mr. Yoshida believes that we should not confront, but cooperate with Putin's new and improved Russian despotism: Honestly, whoever purported to educate this young man needs to reassess his competency.

Even in NYS, it CAN be done

I recently visited my hometown, and was pleasantly surprised by how it had changed. I grew up in the 70s, and I remember the main drag, Mamaroneck Avenue, as a 50s throwback - little independent shops along the way, some movie theaters, coffee shops, with a Macy's and a Woolworth's with a Luncheonette at the far end. Urban renewal came, and the only real, palpable change to Mam'k Ave consisted of new sidewalks and some trees. The Galleria Mall opened in 1980, and that led to the slow death of businesses on Mam'k Ave. (Sound familiar?). By the late 80s, it was looking pretty sketchy. Even the Galleria was in decline. The Westchester Mall opened on the site of a long-abandoned B. Altman's in the late 90s, complete with Nordstrom's and a link to a Nieman Marcus that opened in the 70s. You'd expect this new, high-end mall to drive the last nail in the Galleria's coffin, but instead the old mall found tenants aplenty and is still going strong. The vacant Macy's is now "City Center" with a Target, a Barnes & Noble, an Atlanta Bread Company, a beautiful new Italian restaurant, and a huge new municipal parking garage for a high-rise apartment complex. Trump is building new apartments across the street, at the end of Mamaroneck Avenue. It's a stunning rejuvination, and one from which Buffalo could take some lessons. Here are some choice quotes from today's NY Times article:

The mayor, Joseph M. Delfino, used to joke that you could shoot a cannon down the street at night and not hit a car or a pedestrian. "Now you have to be careful where you aim," said Bruce Berg, an executive vice president of Cappelli Enterprises, the leading downtown developer. For the better part of a decade, a former Macy's department store sat empty at the corner of Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue, a vital intersection that was dotted with vacancies and 99-cent stores. Even Starbucks, which plants a flag in almost any town with a retail pulse, had stayed away. But now there's a glossy new Starbucks overlooking the fountain. Macy's has been replaced by a huge mixed-used development called City Center, with a 35-story rental tower, One City Place, already built, and a twin condominium tower, bearing the Trump name, still rising. And in perhaps the clearest sign of the transformation of the business district, there is now a sales office for Trump Tower, as well as an adjoining loft building, where stores once hawked cheap toys and toiletries. Breaking the city's traditional 20-story skyline, the towers loom over a retail complex that includes Target, Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, the Legal Seafood restaurant, Filene's Basement and the first new movie theater the city has had in years. The towers also lifted the prices in the housing market. With an indoor pool and views of the Manhattan skyline and Long Island Sound, One City Place, with 311 units, is charging $2,000 to $2,600 for granite- and marble-sheathed one-bedroom apartments and as much as $5,500 for a three-bedroom apartment. Leasing started in April, and about half the apartments are rented. The Trump Tower condominiums are priced from $645,000 to $1.6 million. The tower, with 212 apartments, will not be finished until fall 2005. But the condominiums have sold so fast that the developer, Cappelli, has increased prices four times. Two-thirds of the units have sold since the apartments went on the market in early October, sold by Cappelli under a licensing agreement with Donald Trump... ...City officials say the infusion of high-income residents is adding balance to the makeup of the downtown. Much of the nine-square-mile city of roughly 54,000 residents is composed of solidly middle and upper middle-class neighborhoods, with spacious single-family houses and some mansions. But according to Paul Wood, the city's acting executive officer, a recent study revealed that 82 percent of the housing stock in the downtown area, defined as the blocks between Main Street and East Post Road, from South Broadway to the Metro-North Railroad station, fell into the "subsidized, regulated or assisted" categories, either through limits imposed on rent or federal housing vouchers. "It was stacked the other way, so we evened out the demographic," Mr. Wood said. "The whole plan was to create a neighborhood downtown, which was ripped out during the urban renewal of the 1960's and 1970's."

Even in New York State, it CAN be done.

Doom-a-doom-doom, Three-men-in-a-room

Must-read from Newsday:

By MARC HUMBERT AP Political Writer January 1, 2005, 11:05 AM EST ALBANY, N.Y. -- The officials who make up the much-maligned, three-men-in-a-room system of governance for New York state haven't changed in a decade and are about to embark on Year 11, a record of longevity unmatched in the state's 227-year history. It was in early 1994 that Sheldon Silver became speaker of the state Assembly after his fellow Democrat, Saul Weprin, had a stroke and died. In early November of that year, Republican George Pataki defeated Democratic incumbent Mario Cuomo in the governor's race. With the governor-elect's help, Joseph Bruno staged a coup later that month against fellow Republican Ralph Marino to become the state Senate's majority leader. Over the next 10 years, the trio survived disloyal lieutenants, serious health problems and ambitious underlings. The three, usually meeting behind closed doors, negotiated agreements on most major issues facing the state. They got credit for successes and blame for the state's increasingly systemic gridlock which has, among other things, produced 20 years of late budgets. "In some ways, it is like a bad marriage," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a frequent critic of the system. "They have accumulated a long history together and they know what to do to drive the other one crazy."

Is this any way to run a state?

Buffalo 2005

As I posted recently, I think 2004 was a pretty good year for this region. Will 2005 shape up to be even better? I'm echoing Buffalog Craig's post, but what the hey? AFAIC, this is story #1. New York State in general, and WNY in particular, cannot continue on with business-as-usual. It's killed us. It's sucked us dry. It is driving people away. It is time for real leadership. It's time for real change. To whom shall we look to such leadership? How do we break the stranglehold that the power-hungry triumverate running Albany have on us and our political discourse? Do we New Yorkers just let things go on as they have, or do we insist on change? How do we bring it about? To whom do we look to implement, say, the Brennan Center's suggestions for reform? FixAlbany.com, run by Nassau CE Tom Suozzi is one place to look. Two years ago, a google search for "reform Albany", just about nothing came up. Let's face it - on most fronts, WNY will rise or fall based on what happens in Albany - not Washington, not even locally. How do you attract people to Buffalo? How do you attract people to upstate in general? - reform Albany - lessen our onerous tax burden - make our government responsive and responsible - streamline regulations and make compliance easy. - stop punishing businesses and taxpayers. Let's face this, too - people in Tri-State don't know or care what's going on in Albany. They can all name Mayor Bloomberg, but challenge someone in Westchester, Rockland, or Nassau to name their State Assemblyperson or Senator. People will come to NYC no matter what. Not so in Syracuse, Buffalo, Schenectady, or Rochester. There are good things happening in Buffalo. There is momentum for positive change. Visit www.revitalizebuffalo.org. Join the WNY Coalition for Progress. Sign Gaughan's petition at onebuffalo.com. Buffalo can be great again. It can grow again. It's on its way.

We believe.

Click this link to see & sign the letter. Every little bit helps.