West Side Neighborhood Housing Services
As promised in this article, the membership list for West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is right here. Highlighted in yellow are city employees who report to the mayor or their relatives; highlighted in pink are other city employees. Most of the highlighted names (though not all) are new members, who joined just in time to vote at last Thursday’s annual members meeting, when Harvey Garrett was voted off WSNHS’s board.
November 26, 2008
On the Waterfront
So you think Buffalo has a hard time figuring out what to do with its waterfront, do ya? Mad that we can’t just build a signature bridge, huh? Madder still that we can’t just knock the Skyway bridge down? Furious with obstructionists who don’t want a Bass Pro Shop? Livid about the ice boom? And don’t even get you started about all the blind, misguided fools who can’t see that a huge casino downtown will turn our city around?
Yes, my friend, you do in fact have all the answers. If only you were in charge, by God, some things would get done.
Take Buffalo Rising founder Newell Nussbaumer. There’s a guy who gets behind a cause. The passive beach down on the waterfront would never have been there without his commitment. But Newell knows the wisdom of that old Bob Dylan song:
Time passes slowly up here in the mountains,
We sit beside bridges and walk beside fountains,
Catch the wild fishes that float through the stream,
Time passes slowly when you’re lost in a dream.
In fact, the waterfront has been a hot topic for at least sixty years, as evidenced by this award given to Rose Marie Vilardo, a 1949 student of Grover Cleveland High School who addressed the timeless question: “What About our Waterfront?” Check out who the President of the Buffalo and Erie County Planning Association was in 1949.
Now, Newell, I must ask you the tough question: Are you a vampire?
Another Voice
Here’s something that drives me crazy about the Buffalo News: the “Another Voice” column on the editorial page. It would be a nice idea, except that so often it is not given over to “another” voice. It is given, rather, to the same old voices: to people who are frequently quoted as sources in articles, who are in positions of political or economic power, to folks whose job is to push agendas—to people, in other words, who have no difficulty making their voices heard.
Today’s “Another Voice” column is by Ron Rienas, general manager of the Public Bridge Authority. None of the evasions he offers here are new, nor has Rienas lacked opportunity to make them in a public forum. He has been quoted in at least 40 Buffalo News articles in the past year. He wrote another “Another Voice” column in January.
In the past two months, the column’s authors have included incoming State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who earns headlines somewhere in that state nearly every day; Tom Golisano, who can order up a microphone and reporter whenever he needs one; Erie County Legislator Maria Whyte, with whose column I agree but who already has occasion to speak with reporters weekly; UB President John Simpson, stumping for the UB 2020 plan that is frequently the subject of articles in the news pages; Erie County Executive Chris Collins, also no stranger to headlines; and outgoing Congressman Tom Reynolds, who, it is true, has not been much in the limelight in the past two years.
And Rienas’ column today is a response to a recent “Another Voice” piece by attorney David Colligan, chairman of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. I agree with much of what Colligan says in that piece, but he’s another guy who hardly lacks opportunity to speak his mind: He is quoted in the pages of the Buffalo News about once a month, sometimes more often than that.
In between these privileged perspectives, the column frequently comprises articles by the mouthpieces for lobbying or special interest groups. It would be nice, I think, if “Another Voice” were afforded solely to those who are invisible in the news media, underrepresented in government, underserved by our institutions and economy.
November 19, 2008
Who Goes Where When Hillary Goes to State?
City Hall News has flow_chart that tracks who might replace who, from Hillary’s Senate seat on down (click to expand or follow the link—it’s an awkward shape):
November 14, 2008
It’s Robert Rich Sr. All High Stadium
These new signs properly label the structure.
We’ve been reading recent stories in the Buffalo News about sportswriter Tom Borrelli’s terrible fall last week at the old All High Stadium. He’s currently battling life-threatening injuries. The News has fittingly started a blog where people can express their concern, and offer their wishes for a full recovery. The story has also been covered by the Tonawanda News, in the city where Borrelli resides.
One thing that was drilled into me as a stringer writing concert reviews for the Buffalo News several years back was the importance of correctly identifying the venue where the event took place. We all know that naming rights for stadiums are a huge deal these days, and people get upset when their stadium is improperly identified. So, it’s puzzling that the location where Borrelli suffered his injury has not been accurately named in any of the media reports filed by either paper. For the record, Borrelli suffered his fall on the antiquated stairs leading to the press box at Robert Rich Sr. All High Stadium, which underwent major renovations a couple of years ago. I remembered this name change because it was explained to me by Buffalo Public Schools spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw when I was researching a story about the Buffalo Public Schools Foundation earlier this year. Many of the late Buffalo businessman’s friends contributed to the BPSF after his death.
In that story, I listed the major donors to this private 501c3 organization. Here is their tax return for 2006, and here is their return for 2007—which was unavailable at the time I wrote the story. If you scroll to the end, you’ll see the list of donors for both years. The bulk of the money has been spent on uniforms and staff retreats. Page two of the 2007 return indicates that $15,000 was spent on a new scoreboard at the stadium where Borrelli fell. There’s no telling how much the Foundation has raised this year, but they’re clearly sitting on a substantial chunk of change.
Here’s a rundown of all the improvements that were planned for the structure. With that in mind, how disheartening is it to read that improvements to the press box, and the stairs leading to it, were scrapped due to cost?
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UPDATE 11/20/08
After learning of Borrelli’s death this morning, I called Stefan Mychajliw and left a message asking about the stairs and press box at the stadium. Minutes later, I received this official statement from the Buffalo Public Schools.
CWM Fined for Violations
Here's a picture of the sort of thing that got CWM in trouble
This week Chemical Waste Management was fined $175,000 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for violating its permits and the state’s hazardous waste laws. I don’t have much to say about that, except it doesn’t seem to me like too much money.
Last year, AV associate editor Buck Quigley and his band played a gig up at CWM’s annual open house. It rained.
For the especially interested, the press release from DEC follows after the jump.
Musical Chairs
The AP reports that Hillary Clinton met with Barack Obama in Chicago yesterday, adding fuel to speculation that she might be Obama’s choice for secretary of state. If that happens, it has long been rumored that Brian Higgins would be appointed to her Senate seat. (BuffaloPundit reports that rumor this morning. And again this afternoon.) I know a couple prominent businessmen who are working to make that happen, and who knows? Downstate Democrats will make that decision, but maybe it’ll come to pass.
If Clinton does go to Obama’s cabinet, and Higgins does take her Senate seat, then who fills Higgins’ spot in the House? Byron Brown has had his eye on Louise Slaughter’s seat, should she retire soon. But Higgins’ seat is probably safer for Brown (for whomever winds up in it, hypothetically). After the 2010 Census, upstate New York is likely to lose another representative in Congress, and Slaughter’s seat might be the one to go. It’s one ugly-looking district:
There has been another rumor that Brown, not Higgins, would be appointed to Clinton’s seat, but that seems nutball. Higgins’ seat seems a more reasonable aspiration for the mayor.
Who, then, would join Mickey Kearns in the race to replace Brown next year?
Paint the Town
Late last night, at the tail end of one of the few weeks in the past year in which we did not publish anything snarky about anybody, someone threw two gallons of paint on our front doors. Seems a waste; we hadn’t even earned it. Nonetheless, we were cleaning up all morning.
Last week, sure, I can see that: maybe Chris Collins, maybe Steve Pigeon. But no…those guys wouldn’t stoop so low. They don’t even return our calls. It must have been someone else.
Buck Quigley had what sounded on his end like a civil conversation with Bob Gioia earlier in the week, so I can’t believe it was him. And I can’t imagine his brother, Anthony Gioia—recently confirmed as a representative to the 63rd session of the UN—would be so undiplomatic. James Williams? No, Dr. Williams loves AV. He told me so last year. And I can’t believe anything would have changed his mind since then.
Revenge, like pizza, is best served cold, but we understand that the folks at La Nova have made peace with their neighbors. So that’s not it.
George Sax is too urbane to have caused us trouble with the Public Bridge Authority or the Erie County Democrats. And though Bruce Jackson frequently draws heat down on the paper, it doesn’t seem like the Seneca Gaming Corporation’s style. Our other Bruce, late of county government and now thinking deep thoughts about public policy at Buffalo State, is generally brisk but not offensive…unless Bob Wilmers has been nursing a grudge against Fisher and occasional AV contributor John McMahon for months.
What the hell. It couldn’t have been former Buffalo News editor Murray Light.
I’m sure the vandal didn’t issue from City Hall, the good offices of which are AV’s most frequent target, because anyone who works for the city would know that there’s one of those new surveillance cameras just up the street. The blue-light specials.
When I called B District to ask if the camera might have caught the guilty party in the act, I was told that a detective would call back later today. Then, maybe, we’ll see.
November 13, 2008
Old Editions Book Shop
AV videographer Matt Quinn tours Old Editions, an often overlooked treasure at the corner of Oak and Huron Streets downtown:
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November 12, 2008
This Is Not Today’s News
But it would be nice if it were.
Via the Data Stream, by way of Jon Winet.
UPDATE: There’s a print edition, according to a press release, and apparently it’s being distributed in NYC:
Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out
that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end.If, that is, they happened to read a “special edition” of today’s New
York Times.In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million
papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged
pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass
them out on the street.Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the
war.The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as
editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a
recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a
timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of
progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama’s “Yes
we REALLY can” speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)“It’s all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,”
said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper’s writers. “We’ve got to make
sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do.
After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven.”Not all readers reacted favorably. “The thing I disagree with is how
they did it,” said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand
Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. “I’m all
for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper.”
We understand the Yes Men are behind this.
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