1370 Kenmore Ave. today

How many times have you driven by the corner of Kenmore and Delaware Avenues and seen the Bison Automotive building at 1370 Kenmore? Did you know that at one time it housed Palmer’s North Side Motors? Billed themselves as “Hudson’s Volume Dealer” they did, back in 1954.

1954, you may remember, was Hudson’s final year as an independent automobile manufacturer. In 1955 they merged with the Nash-Kelvinator Corp. to form American Motors Corp. Not surprisingly, Palmer’s eventually became a Rambler dealer.

But, back in 1954, they were advertising a new Hudson Wasp four-door sedan with heater, directional signals, undercoat, and wax and polish for $2,530.80. Less your 1950 Hudson trade of $1,200 you could buy the Wasp for just $1,330.80, or monthly life insured-payments of $42.47. No need to rush down there, as (and I’m sure the salesmen loved this part) Palmer’s was open ’til 9:30 p.m. Ah, the wonderful working hours of the car salesman!

1954 Hudson Wasp

At that same time, Nashes were selling at a similar price, but you could buy a top of the line Ford or Chevy sedan for less than two-thousand dollars. Even a V-8 Dodge Royal sedan could be had for less than the price of the six-cylinder Hudson Wasp. Which answers a lot of questions about why Hudson and Nash failed, driving off into the sunset after the 1957 model year, which saw a total production of only about 5,000 Nashes and less than 4,000 Hudsons.

Come on back every weekend as we check out an old dealership and find out what, if anything, is there now.

The Buffalo Police Department is now posting crime data online.

1965 Rambler American 440

This 1965 Rambler American 440 four-door sedan was spotted today on a side road just off of Rt. 60 between Fredonia and Jamestown. It looks to be in decent shape body-wise, but at the rate it’s going it does look like it may disappear into the grass by the end of summer.

The 440 was the top of the American line, and the four-door sedan was the top-seller of the 440s. This one has the typical 1960’s two-tone paint job and good ol’ whitewall tires. Introduced in 1961, the American was just what American Motors needed to fight compacts from “The Big Three” as well as imports. Unfortunately, its reputation as something driven only by your grandparents or your unmarried elderly female schoolteacher was tough to overcome, and 1969 was the American’s final production year.

On April Fool’s Day we filed a FOIL request with Great Lakes Health System of Western New York, the entity formerly known as Newco, that was created by the Berger Commission to consolidate private not for profit Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center, a public benefit corporation.

Last Wednesday (May 20), we received some of the documents we requested on a disk. This was a gracious gesture, since at 25 cents a page, we would have had to pay over $30 for hard copies of the legal bills paid by Western New York Health System (WNYHS) and Kaleida Health to the law firm Garfunkel, Wild & Travis, P.C., of Great Neck, Long Island from November 1, 2007 through April 1, 2009. Click here to see all 128 pages of legal bills.

It appears the firm took in close to $400,000 handling various legal matters for the new entity, including around $165,000 representing Great Lakes Health in the Reese v. Daines case, which was brought seeking openness to board meetings and records for the press and public after Freedom of Information requests had been denied to this newspaper.

That’s the case they lost on September 12, 2008, when Hon Patrick H. NeMoyer ruled that WNYHS must “adhere to the requirements of the Open Meetings Law until such time as the hospital merger is completed and ECMCC is dissolved as a public benefit corporation.”

Rather than accept that ruling and abide by the law, the entity now known as Great Lakes Health decided to battle on in the courts, in the interest of darkness and secrecy, and wound up losing that too, unanimously, in the Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Rochester on May 1, 2009.

The only thing they got from the appeal was a reversal of Judge NeMoyer’s ruling that awarded attorney’s fees to Peter A. Reese, who argued the case against WNYHS. Had they simply paid Reese’s bill, it would have saved them a lot of money, judging by the $480/hour Garfunkel, Wild & Travis attorney Leonard M. Rosenberg charged them, for example.

If you download the pdf available above, check out invoice number 197668 dated January 31, 2009. Rosenberg made almost $15,000 for thirty hours of work that was laughed out of court. Lower members of the firm brought that one bill to $24,160.21. That amount is typical of the sums paid on a monthly basis to a law firm located on Long Island by the group that claims it is “unveiling a bold, new model of healthcare delivery for Western New York.”

Isn’t it also nice to hear that partner Robert Andrew Wild was named Board Chair for United Way of Long Island according to the law firm’s Web site? I wonder how much he donated to the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, after sucking so much money from the area in a failed attempt to keep the residents of our region completely in the dark about the future of our health care.

Meanwhile the matter of Reese v. Daines is headed for the textbooks. An updated civil practice law book published by Matthew Bender & Co., will be covering the successful Article 78 petition, so all New York State attorneys can learn from the case. Even the high priced ones in Great Neck.

Just because you can’t get ‘em here, doesn’t always necessarily mean you’d want to.

2009 Lada Kalina

Pictured is the Lada Kalina, a “low cost super mini” manufactured by avtoVAZ (better known worldwide simply as VAZ) in Russia, and sold there as well as in other European countries. Okay, so maybe it’s not a terrible car, but anyone who remembers the Lada 1200 which was sold in Canada back in the 1970s probably would advise you to stay away. Let’s just say the support network wasn’t strong. Luckily for Americans, at the time the cold war prevented any export of the Lada to the U.S. The 1200 was based on old Fiat 124 tooling, and the version sold in Russia originally came with a crank to start the engine should the battery die in the frigid Russian winters. That should be your first clue as to reliability.

1970s Lada 1200

The new Lada Kalina is best described by the folks who run the website ladacars.org: “1118 Lada Kalina is five doors ’sedan’, a new model of family cars Kalina issued Avtovaz. Modern elegant appearance, comfortable cabin, good government , necessary for a city car, which has a completely new Lada Kalina . Avtovaz begin producing sedans Lada Kalina family in November 2004. The car meets all modern requirements for security. ” There, now you know everything you need to know about the new Lada Kalina.

Perhaps they’ve hit the nail on the head as to what’s ailing the U.S. auto industry. I don’t believe any of our cars currently being produced have “good government,” which, as they point out, is “necessary for a city car.” Perhaps President Obama can get his car czar to look into it.

To check out the current line of Lada vehicles, click here. (Have your Russian/English dictionary handy!)

1967 Mercury Monterey

On my way to Olean I spotted this 1967 Mercury Monterey sedan parked in the grass on Rt. 16 just south of Machias. A pretty rare find these days. Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing that many on the road back in 1967, either. Fords, Chevys, Plymouths — they were everywhere. Ford produced 15,177 Monterey four-door sedans for the 1967 model year. Compare that to 130,063 Ford Galaxie 500 four-door sedans made the same year and you can see why you hardly see a ‘67 Merc in this rust-prone part of the country some 40 years later. This one, if you’re interested, has a for sale sign on the window.

I don’t expect much truth when I visit the political gossip sites authored by Joe Illuzzi and his former employee Glenn Gramigna. I read them to see who they’re bowing and scraping to, what stories and rumors they’re being paid to promote. Both—the Scientologist Gramigna and the born-again Christian Illuzzi—engage in wanton slander and misrepresentation. (And I use that term as a writer, not a lawyer.) I can’t imagine why anyone would take them seriously, or why so many politicians support their con.

Today Gramigna goes too far with this post, in which he suggests that housing activist Dick Kern, late of Buffalo and currently of Minneapolis, has confessed to writing the nonsense about Byron Brown that led to the Syaed Ali affair.

Here’s what Gramigna posted:

Ex Buffalo Activist Admits Writing Notorious, Totally False Byron Brown E-Mails

Written by Glenn Gramigna, Editor

FORMER LOCAL ACTIVIST, GADFLY ADMITS WRITING LIBELOUS, COMPLETELY INACCURATE BYRON BROWN E-MAILS IN PHONE CONVERSATIONS NewWNYPolitics has learned that a former Buffalo political activist, who has since left town, has admitted authorship of that notorious series of e-mails which falsely sought to implicate Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown in various forms of improper conduct. The confessions came in a series of phone calls this individual has made recently. Known to mix erratic behavior with occasionally intelligent critiques of area shortcomings, this person has stayed active in local affairs through e-mails and phone calls, while living out of the area in recent years. His signed e-mails often consist of wild charges and bizarre claims, not unlike those contained in the civilly actionable series of untrue cyberspace attacks aimed at the Mayor. Meanwhile, despite the claims of some, WNY information technology entrepreneur Syaed Ali, has not permanently forsaken Buffalo for Toronto, Stamford, CT or anywhere else. Instead, this 25 year old high tech professional is currently on a business trip to the West Coast and intends to return to the Queen City soon.

Dick Kern has been a lot of things to a lot of people, but there one thing he’s never been: anonymous. The emails about Brown were sent under a pseudonym. Leaving out the absurd content, with which Kern would have no truck, anonymity is by itself enough to disqualify Kern as the sender.

Earlier this week, Kern asked Syaed Ali for an update on the job opening she’s been advertising on Gramigna’s site. Ali responded with a request that Kern cease and desist from emailing him.

And today Gramigna, who’s been happily accepting advertising from Ali’s company since the scandal broke in January, comes out with this nonsense.

Imagine if you will, the Buffalo Sabres fielding an entirely new team of players and coaching personnel. Now imagine the Columbus Blue Jackets coming to town, and there behind the bench is their Coach, Lindy Ruff. Between the pipes for the Jackets is Ryan Miller, and there’s Thomas Vanek wearing #26 for Columbus.

Crazy, huh? Yet that’s sort of how things felt at Coca Cola Field this afternoon, as the Columbus Clippers arrived to begin their four game visit against the Bisons. Now the affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, their roster bears a very healthy sprinkling of players we have come to know as Buffalo Bisons, and leading their charge is the quintessential Buffalo guy, Manager Torey Lovullo.

How did the game turn out? Yeah another Buffalo loss, but that was no surprise. Trailing 6-4 going into the bottom of the 9th, the Bisons got their first two runners aboard. A short pop up and a round the horn double play later, it was lights out and another dreary Bisons outing.

A sizable media contingent was on hand in the bowels of the ballpark awaiting Lovullo, who managed here in Buffalo for three seasons before departing along with the Cleveland organization at the end of last year. “It was a little unusual, I got here early, gave my hellos to all the guys. I was very happy at the outcome I wanted to get the distractions out of the way early.” Lovullo admitted that a number of his players who were here last season wanted to make the statement, including Trevor Crowe, who went 4-5 at the plate today. Travis Hafner, down on a rehab assignment from the Indians, added three hits of his own.

And how has the reception been in Columbus for the Indians farmhands? “I think it’s a statewide thing,” Lovullo replied. “The fans have been great. The new stadium is beautiful. It was bittersweet leaving here but all in all we have great fan support and we have the Indians playing right next door and we can’t beat that situation.”

As for their new ballpark, Huntington Park, located in downtown Columbus’ Arena District. “We’re still working the kinks out. The last homestand I think we were 6 and 2. We’re looking forward to going back home after this road trip.”

As for this visit to Buffalo… “It was a bit awkward. Somewhat surreal,” said Lovullo. “I had some thoughts about what I wanted to do. I got here very early in the day. I didn’t want to be distracted. But I didn’t walk onto the field until 5 minutes before the game. I said a couple hellos at that point it was all about the game.”

The Buffalo-Columbus series continues with games Friday through Sunday at Coca Cola Field.

Popular 103.3 The Edge radio team Shredd & Ragan continue their opposition to the city’s red light camera plan with a live broadcast from Niagara Square in front of city hall today, from 3-7pm. The plan calls for putting cameras at 50 intersections around the city. City officials, including Mayor Byron Brown, claim it is a safety measure that will simultaneously generate millions of dollars annually through the issuance of $50 tickets.

Protesters are encouraged to “bring themselves, their voices and any signs they may want to create.” But leave the profanity behind.

Council member Richard Fontana and council member/mayoral candidate Mickey Kearns, who has described the camera plan as a “money grab,” are both expected to attend. Shredd & Ragan will be ready for interviews.

Click here to read how 80% of the tickets in L.A. are issued to people making right-on-red turns.

Safety or scam? See you at city hall. Let your voice be heard.

During my many hours behind the wheel in my day job (over 64,000 miles last year!), I come across many of those (seemingly) abandoned cars parked in somebody’s yard, and thought I’d feature one every Wednesday evening in this spot.

1950 Chevy Fleetline

This one I’ll bet has some kind of a story behind it. A 1950 Chevy Fleetline sedan with attached period camper. The Chevy has plates from the state of Washington, and it’s parked just off the lot of a motel on Rt. 20 in Chautauqua county. Abandoned? Broke down and forgotten about? Did somebody’s girlfriend’s father finally track them down and haul them back to Washington without their wheels? Maybe none of the above or all of the above!