Looks like Mayor Byron Brown and Steve Pigeon are together again, again. Their on again, off again political relationship appeared to be down for the count just two months prior to the September 15 Democratic primary, in the fallout of the NYS Senate coup that stalled Albany this summer. At the time, the Buffalo News described Pigeon as “radioactive,” explaining why Brown’s campaign declined a June 25 fundraiser Pigeon was to host. The event might have raised $100,000 for the mayor’s campaign.

Now, Pigeon is on the State payroll for $150,000 as counsel to Pedro Espada (the off again, on again Democratic senator who left and rejoined the party along with Hiram Monserrate this summer), and he is also serving as Mayor Brown’s lawyer, according to this petition filed last Friday. Four people signed the affidavits reporting lines at polling places: Cindy Cooper, Omar Price, Mary Scarpine, and Cavette Chambers. Scarpine notarized Chambers’s affidavit, Chambers notarized Scarpine’s, Cooper’s, and Price’s. They all work for corporation counsel in city hall.

The petition is a follow-up to this order issued by judge John M. Curran late Tuesday night which sought to keep voters at certain polling places from being disenfranchised.

According to a story in today’s Buffalo News, Buffalo Police spokesman Mike DeGeorge “declined to comment on reports that Derenda had directed the police officers to bring Stokes to Brown’s office.”

In the same story, mayor Brown’s spokesman Peter Cutler “referred questions to Sciolino.”

According to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary:

Buffalo Niagara Partnership President and CEO Andrew Rudnick writes in a letter published by the Buffalo News that Delaware North Companies should run the Aqueduct horse track in Queens. Delaware North has a well-known interest in these kinds of operations.

The note stresses that the team (Aqueduct Gaming) involved in the deal are New York companies: Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, McKissack & McKissack (whose Web site says the company was founded in 1990 in Washington, DC before expanding into the Chicago market and now has offices in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Orlando), Shawmut (with offices in Boston, New York, Providence, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and New Haven), and Thalden Emery (with offices in Las Vegas, Phoenix, St. Louis, and Tulsa).

Finally, the letter states that the selection of Aqueduct Gaming would mean 100 new jobs in Buffalo. Says this is a “test of whether New York’s elected ‘leaders’ will support the state’s businesses.”

I put down the paper and called Andrew Rudnick to request a list of these local jobs. I was forwarded to the voice mail of Emily Alexandria Burns, Communications Manager for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. I left a message on her office phone and her cell phone. I put in a follow-up call and was directed to Nadine Clancy, handling Business Intelligence at the Partnership. Nadine said she’d try to find someone who could answer my question.

It seemed like a simple question, seeing as the letter published today, but I guess not. I just put in another call, and was told that Emily was on a conference call and couldn’t talk to me. However, the receptionist sent her an email asking her to call me. She said Emily would be the one for me to talk to, since she’s the Communications Manager.

As soon as someone gets back to me with a list of the 100 new jobs that are hanging in the balance, I will publish it here.

A poster over at SpeakupWNY shared the automatic response one receives when, prompted by Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan, one writes to Mayor Byron Brown to complain about the city stonewalling the media on Freedom of Information requests.

Here it is:

The Mayor’s Office has received your e-mail regarding the August 9, 2009 column written by the editor of the Buffalo News.

Let me make this statement as clearly as possible: The Mayor’s Administration has obeyed and will continue to obey the law, whether it involves Freedom of Information (FOI) law issues or any other issue. There is absolutely no evidence to the contrary.

It was the editor who brought politics into her argument regarding the release of public documents and the upcoming mayoral primary election. But, as the editor knows well, if the paper truly has a quarrel regarding FOI and the availability of public documents from the city, the paper has plenty of legal recourse to follow. To date, the paper has not done so.

So this is not about obeying the law – the Administration, in every instance of processing a FOI request, whether from the Buffalo News or any other media outlet, has followed the letter of the law, without exception. This was clearly a political statement by the paper.

There are always two sides to every story. On Sunday you heard one side and now you have the other side.

Thank you for sharing your comments with us, we always appreciate the input we receive from the public.

Sincerely,

Peter K. Cutler
Director of Communications
Office of the Mayor

Paragraph 1: True enough.

Paragraph 2: Not true enough. There is indeed evidence that the mayor’s office has ignored the law on FOIL requests. Artvoice has often been made to wait more that five business days for acknowledgment of a FOIL request, in violation of the law, and more than 30 business days for the information we’ve requested, in violation of the law. On a few occasions, we have never received the information requested or an explanation as to why we have not—again, a violation of the law. Based on Sullivan’s column, it sounds like the News has similar problems with the mayor’s office. I don’t always rush to defend the Buffalo News, but I’m pretty sure Sullivan and reporter Jim Heaney would not say they’ve been stonewalled unless it’s true.

Paragraph 3: I’m not sure where Cutler see politics in Sullivan’s column. But I don’t doubt he does: It’s primary season, so he’ll imagine that any criticism of the Brown administration is steeped in politics. As to the existence of legal recourse, he’s right—the News can take the city to court. In doing so, the News guarantees that the wait for the release of public documents will be prolonged even further. If the court finds the city has stonewalled the News (or Artvoice, or an individual citizen), the city receives a slap on the wrist. This is a good state to be a journalist generally speaking, in terms of law, but FOIL has no teeth, and neither do our open meetings statutes or our campaign finance law.

Paragraph 4: Again, that clearly not true, and again, there’s nothing political in Sullivan’s statement. She did not endorse the mayor’s opponent in her column. I doubt very much that her paper will, either.

Paragraph 5: In fact there are at least two sides to every story, usually far more than two. Cutler’s side of the story is full of holes.

Paragraph 6: Well, I suppose that’s pro forma but it certainly rings false. Is the mayor’s office truly grateful for this criticism? Does the mayor appreciate it?

AV’s courts and utilities correspondent, John Duke, sent us this dispatch today, occasioned by Monday’s front-page Buffalo News piece on Kevin Gaughan’s downsizing government campaign:

In a poorly written and misleading article printed on the front page of the Buffalo News on Monday, a reporter claimed that the man who started the government downsizing revolution in Erie County, Kevin P. Gaughan, may not be able to control it and should let local politicians assist him in removing their positions from the taxpayer’s bankroll.

The Buffalo News doesn’t agree with Gaughan’s common sense.  He has always said, “The petition process to get downsizing on the ballot must be pure; and purely grass roots.  This effort is nonpolitical and citizen-driven. There’s just one class of people I don’t think have a place in it, and that’s people running for office. I do have to guard the integrity of the effort.”

Supporters and opponents say Gaughan has tapped into a pent-up desire for change.  After pointing out a provision in state law allowing the votes, Gaughan organized the successful petition drives and campaigns to reduce the town boards in West Seneca and Evans from five members to three.  He can also take credit for downsizing efforts in North Collins and votes in Lancaster and Depew.

“It’s very difficult to find a politician who supports this, but it’s almost impossible to find a citizen who doesn’t support this,” Gaughan said.

Gaughan has accepted the support of West Seneca Supervisor Wallace C. Piotrowski, who welcomed him into the town.  “I would tend to agree with Gaughan. After this decade long fight for him, he doesn’t trust politicians. We don’t need any help from political parties,” Piotrowski said.

Paul Becker, of Orchard Park, the former municipal liaison for the Erie County Water Authority, said he always has been interested in good governance, and he thought Gaughan’s proposal sounded good.  Becker collected signatures to get the measure on the ballot in Orchard Park.  “People have a pent-up desire to see some kind of change. People feel they want a voice. I think this is a good opportunity to have a voice,” Becker said.

Downsizing votes are scheduled next month in Alden and Orchard Park. Gaughan said those two communities can expect a discussion on the nature and purpose of local government.

Will the movement continue in Orchard Park and Alden; is it unstoppable? Opponents in both towns predict it will pass.

With successful votes taking place and with thousands of Erie County residents signing on to the idea, Gaughan said many of his volunteers found him through his Web site, http://www.letpeopledecide.org/ , where more than 19,000 people have registered.

“Sometimes I ask myself why the hell I do this,” Gaughan said. “I think this is the finest community in America, and it deserves the finest government.  It doesn’t have it.”

It may be news to the News; but Erie County is very fortunate to have an activist such as Kevin Gaughan looking out for us.  Can you imagine if we left it to the politicians?

I believe—and I’m pretty sure Gaughan would agree—that the number of politicians in our region is not as big an issue as the number of governments, and the duplication of services, and the resulting proliferation of patronage jobs and contracts whose beneficiaries protect the status quo like a growling dog hovering over a bone. (You can read about Gaughan’s campaign here and decide for yourself if you agree with what he’s doing.) But, like John Duke, I also didn’t quite get the point of the News article. Gaughan should not take credit for his work? He should welcome the co-option of the campaign by politicians and the politically motivated?

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.

Good for Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan, calling out Mayor Byron Brown for his administration’s habit of stonewalling on the release of public records to the press.

We’ve been complaining about the problem for two years, and we published a cover story about the problem in February 2008. One AV editor was forced to FOIL minutes to a meeting of the Planning Board, which usually posts its minutes online, when the links to the minutes he needed were broken.

I had always imagined that Brown administration officials treated us more poorly than they did the News, because we’re smaller and have fewer resources with which to demand our rights under the law. I guess I was wrong.

Out of fairness, however, one city agency has always responded quickly to FOIL requests: BERC, under both Rich Tobe and his successor Brian Reilly, has never dragged out the process past deadlines, always provided the documents requested. The law department, too, under Alisa Lukasiewicz, was generally quick to respond, at least if the documents requested had been generated in the law department.

From the “Snappy Answers to Stupid Claims” department…

On page A3 of today’s Buffalo News, you can read the full-color, full-page open letter to the community from The Buffalo Niagara Partnership Executive Committee, also known as “the usual suspects.”

Question: What kind of Chamber of Commerce is so jittery about its public image that it feels the need to buy such expensive ad space in an attempt to convince the community it allegedly serves that things are on the right track?

Here are the things the BNP is taking credit for:

UB 2020 established as the regional priority for Albany action

Unfortunately, it’s a plan rooted in the dream that public money should be spent with no oversight. This is a plan? Why not just propose robbing Fort Knox? Both plots are illegal. Only difference is when the UB plan fails, the perpetrators won’t go to jail, they’ll just blame “politics as usual” for foiling their dubious scheme.

Modernization of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and bringing low-cost carriers to our region

Just how much more modernization needs to be done at the airport? Transporter machines? This place has been modernized so many times you’d think we’d be zipping around it like the Jetsons wearing jet packs.

Construction of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and creation of nearly 5,000 jobs in the life sciences

Sure. How are things progressing with the dissolution of ECMC as a public benefit corporation? Don’t mind me, just a taxpayer, just asking.

Federal Courthouse going up on Delaware Avenue

Really? Taking credit for this? I had no idea a group of local businessmen exerted such influence on the Federal Government. Should be a busy place.

Development of more than 1,000 lofts, apartments and condos in downtown Buffalo—a place very few people lived in just a decade ago

Over the past 16 years, Andrew Rudnick has made like $6 million dollars in salary as head of BNP. Buffalo is the third poorest city in the nation, and lots of people live downtown. They just don’t have much food, and little shelter.

Demolition of the Aud and significant work on the outer and inner harbors

Excellent. Destroy a monument to American War Veterans in the hope of luring a fishing store. Better throw a few more buckets of tax breaks into the water. Drives ‘em into a feeding frenzy.

Retention of the Niagara Air Reserve Station

“Retention” sounds so much better than “reduction.”

Creation of Charter Schools throughout the region

Why shouldn’t we be discovering more ways to siphon public education funding into private enterprises? Think about the kids.

Downsizing of the Buffalo Common Council
The benefits of this accomplishment are all around us, for everyone to see.

Introduction of an affordable Enhanced Drivers License as an alternative to passports at the border

I don’t know whether I should feel safer or more of a sucker. Maybe I should buy a Nexus card for good measure.

Business Backs the Bills effort, which kept the team here

Which, for nine days every fall, guarantees a surge in alcohol related arrests for local law enforcement.

“Some of our success, however, is largely invisible,” the ad crows. Yeah, we know all about it. Invisible like the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Peace Bridge Neighborhood activist Peter Joe Certo is upset with The Buffalo News for playing fast and loose with its own policies. Here’s an email he sent around to dozens of media folks, including many writers at the daily paper. He offers real estate records and email strings as evidence. Read on…and on...

“A writer or household may be represented in the column only once in 60 days.”

This is to call your attention (again!) to a violation of your guidelines for publishing letters in Everybody’s Column.  This is not the first time you’ve violated/waived your own guideline for repeat publishing, nor is it the first time I’ve called your attention to it.  Below are links to two letters: one published today; the other less than “60 days” ago. They are written by members of the same “household”: neighborhood scribe and self-styled “legal” expert Barbara Battista and her home’s co-owner and co-habitant, Joseph Paternostro.  While both letters are ill-reasoned screeds, you certainly may publish them, but not in violation of your own guidelines.  This is not this first time I’ve brought this (same exact) violation to your attention (see attached e-mail of 11-17-08).  At that time, you promised to “check it out.” There is evidence you’ve exercised this restriction in the past; in fact, you’ve exercised it on me (see attached e-mail of 12-17-07).  Why you don’t do it with others is beyond me. (more…)

We hope no one missed the late-breaking news story on the front page of today’s Buffalo News telling us that area drivers needn’t worry about traffic jams. We really don’t have any traffic jams. But to certify that this was a solid investigative report, the News consulted with an assistant professor of engineering from the University at Buffalo, Ms. Qian Wang. Professor Wang confirmed that residents have no need to worry. “The traffic conditions here really aren’t that bad,” she told the News.

That’s such a relief because we really weren’t sure if there were no traffic jams or if we just didn’t know what a traffic jam was.

The News did manage to dig up an old photo from 2003 to run with their potential Pulitzer Prize winning research that showed a sort of half-assed busy “rush hour” on Cayuga Road in WIlliamsville. We’re so happy that we decided to keep our subscription to the Buffalo News, even after they raised their cover price to 75¢. Where would we be without the valuable information they provide?