Remember New London, Connecticut? In 2005, the struggling city won a Supreme Court case to bulldoze the homes of many residents, citing eminent domain, to make way for a huge expansion for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. The city threw in crazy tax breaks to lure the company there, in an effort to revitalize the city. The company promised a “business and technology park.”

Now, Pfizer is shutting down its huge research facility, after merging with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Turns out they’re not making enough money. This leaves an overgrown field where the homes that were demolished to make way for the expansion used to stand.

Say…didn’t there used to be a big Westwood-Squibb pharmaceutical complex over by the Scajaquada on the West Side?

I mean, nothing like this could ever happen in a place like Buffalo…could it? Let’s hope a store like Bass Pro has a more stable future than the pharmaceutical industry.

Looks like those backward downstate New Yorkers are at it again. First, there was the successful High Line that reused a defunct Manhattan rail line as a public park, and now the Walkway Over the Hudson, the newest NYS park, which opened to the public on October 3. They even got Empire State Development grant money to help make it a reality.

A New York Times editorial describes it as “the latest example of the new kinds of infrastructure- for tourism and recreation- that are reshaping the Hudson Valley.”

Could something similar be done with the Skyway, if it’s ever decommissioned as a vehicular roadway? I’ve wondered about it.  Some local folks think it’s worth considering, before spending tens of millions of dollars to tear it down and stuff all the scrap into our already bulging landfills.

And besides, the Skyway is part of our history.

Then again, maybe it’s just that people from downstate aren’t as afraid of heights as we are.

Roll It. Snort with it. Spend it.

The American Chemical Society’s national meeting kicked off last Sunday. One interesting presentation was a U. Mass-Dartmouth research study which found that cocaine is present in up to 90 percent of paper money in the United States, particularly in larger cities such as NY, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, LA and Detroit. Biochemistry professor Yuegang Zuo, Ph.D., said it’s long been known U.S. currency had had drug traces, due to money used in drug deals and rolled to use the drugs themselves. The study collected paper money from over 30 cities in five countries. The figure of 90 percent is a significant rise from a similar study done two years ago in which the percent of drug contaminated bills was 67 percent.

Christopher Byrd has posted the latest sad tale of a local landmark crushed to oblivion.

Visit Broadway Fillmore Alive to see which familiar old nightclub is no more.

Here’s an AP story picked up by the Buffalo News, describing the expanded use of surveillance cameras in the People’s Republic of China.

“No debate over privacy rights has taken place in China, where the ratio of cameras to people stands at only one to 472,000, and where tight communist political control and broad and intrusive police powers have long been the norm,” the writer observes.

He adds: “Such systems have proved controversial in other countries, especially in Britain, which reportedly has 4.2 million surveillance cameras installed – or about one per 14 people. British police say the system has in fact done little to bring down crime.” Read more here.

Mayor Byron Brown disagrees with the British police, siding with the communists on this issue. His re-election Web site touts the “67 state-of-the-art surveillance cameras in high crime areas and important commercial districts with an additional 53 set to debut this summer” as one of the ways to reduce crime.

Don’t miss the 4th Annual Queen City Jazz Fest at 145 Broadway (the historic Colored Musicians Club) from 1pm-9pm Saturday, July 25th.

Vendors, food, and a bunch of great performers including Will Holton, Jazzline, JWN Band, Larry Salter Big Band, Melissa Kate Project, and Sharon Bailey.

New York State Senator Antoine Thompson will be holding a home foreclosure prevention workshop on Saturday, August 1st from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Bennett High School, 2885 Main Street in Buffalo.

Thompson spokesperson, Heather Zeisz stated; “With the current state of the economy, it is important to give residents of New York a cost free opportunity to meet with banks and mortgage servicers about payment programs to prevent home or property foreclosure.”

The purpose of this forum is to provide residents with an educational opportunity to learn about home foreclosure prevention through educational seminars and independent consultations with mortgage counselors.  Co-sponsors for this event are US Senator Charles Schumer and the NYS Banking Department.  For more details, you can contact Lisa Yaeger at Thompson’s District Office 716 – 854 – 8705.

Forty years ago today, on July 20, 1969, golfer Carol Mann won the LPGA Danbury Lady Carling Golf Open. Mann, who was born in Buffalo, NY, on February 3, 1941, racked up 38 tour victories during her career, including the US Women’s Open in 1965. Last year, she was named Golf’s First Lady by the LPGA.

The same day in 1969, US Astronauts became the first people to land on the moon. Here’s how it was reported by CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite, who passed away this past Friday, July 17, 2009 at the age of 92.

Those who remember the lunar landing, remember it as a turning point in human history—a time when anything seemed possible. Soon, mankind was dreaming of even bigger things, like playing golf on the moon.

Many young people today have no idea what an extraordinary accomplishment the moon landing was to the country, and to the world.

Still others claim it was all a hoax.

In a desperate move to break the NYS Senate gridlock, a coalition of 16 unions and citizens’ groups have signed on to this letter that was sent to state lawmakers, urging them to adopt a bipartisan operating agreement pronto—so they can get some of the people’s business accomplished by tomorrow.

Hey, what could it hurt?

According to liberal blog Daily Kos, former Republican, now Democratic Senator Arlen Spector from Pennsylvania will be the benefactor of a reception next Tuesday at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, Manhattan, NY. Steve Pigeon, fresh off his NYS senate coup, is on the committee for the event. The event chair is New Jersey senator Bob Menendez

The party starts at 5:30 and you can come as a friend for $1,000, or as a co-host for $2,500. According to a spokesperson at Katz Watson Group, the Washington DC political fundraising organization coordinating the event, “There’s no sit-down dinner, or anything like that. The one in New York is just a ‘reception.’” Fundraisers for Specter are also taking place in the nation’s capital, and in Pennsylvania.

Interesting how in New York, it was elected Democrats turning Republican, while in Pennsylvania, it was a senator turning Democrat from Republican. Former Erie County Democratic Party Chairman Pigeon appears to support Specter no matter what hat he chooses to wear, if this $1,000 contribution made in 2007 to Citizens for Arlen Specter is any indication. Specter was still with the Grand Old Party then.