For the second time in four days, New York State Senators sat at a table in Western New York to listen to locals beg for money. On Friday, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Martin Malave Dilan held a hearing at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society to hear idea on how the state should spend $25 billion in capital project funds over the next five years. (Joining Dilan were local senators Thompson, Stachowski, Ranzenhofer and Maziarz, and a well-heeled delegation from NYSDOT.)

The day’s headlines, forecasting a $10 billion deficit in the state budget over the next two years, were largely ignored until the last speaker, former State Senator and Buffalo Common Councilman Al Coppola, spoke his piece. He’d been waiting three hours to get to the microphone. He and Dilan exchanged senatorial pleasantries (Dilan politely pretended to have heard of Coppola, whose stint in Albany was brief), and then Coppola held up a copy of the day’s paper, and mentioned the climbing deficit. “Kind of changes everything we’ve been talking about here today, doesn’t it?” he said.

Dilan shrugged and nodded. “It changes everything.”

Not that transportation spending has been well managed in recent years anyway. From today’s Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

Highway and motor vehicle taxes dedicated to road and bridge repairs continue to be raided to pay the state’s operating expenses, leading to a deterioration of New York’s infrastructure, according to a report from the Comptroller’s Office.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that since 1991, only 35 percent, or $11.6 billion, of the money in the state’s Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund went to repair roads and bridges.

The majority of the money went to cover debt payments and expenses at the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation, DiNapoli said.

He warned that the percentage of capital spending on roads will decline to 21 percent by 2014 and the state will need to pay $4 billion from the general fund just to pay current bills over the next five years.

“This is not acceptable,” DiNapoli said. “This money should be used to keep our roads and bridges safe.”

Using most of the $33 billion fund for other expenses has left the state unable to pay for a proposed $25.8 billion five-year capital plan for roads and bridges.

Gov. David Paterson recently rejected the new capital plan presented by the DOT, saying the state simply can’t afford it.

The state Association of Counties said nearly 40 percent of the state’s 17,000 bridges are in disrepair and urged state leaders to invest in the capital plan.

Which brings us to today’s hearing, already underway at the UAW office on George Karl Boulevard in Williamsville. Senate Finance Chair Carl Kruger and State Senator Bill Stachowski (the man Kruger muscled out of the powerful committee’s chairmanship) are taking testimony on Governor David Paterson’s deficit reduction plan, which aims to cut a projected $3 billion deficit in the 2009-2010 budget by whacking 10 percent off of basically everything.

Here’s the Senate’s description of Paterson’s plan.

And after the jump is the list of groups planning to testify.

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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.

Last Friday, a court case brought by the International Bottled Water Association and Nestle Waters of North America was decided by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa. The result puts New York’s recently passed Bigger Better Bottle Bill (BBBB) legislation on hold until April 1, 2010. Read Griesa’s order here.

Here’s the NYPIRG press release where they call upon Governor David Patterson, Senate Majority leader Malcolm Smith, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to do something about it. After all, these three were presented awards from 50 environmental groups on Earth Day for enacting the law.

Now that photo-op has come and gone, and big, corporate lawyers have succeeded in scuttling the measure for another year at least, throwing the state budget out of whack by an estimated $115 million.

Click here to read a statement from the Bottle and Can Redemption Association (BACRA), one of the green industries that was counting on the BBBB legislation to keep struggling redemption centers afloat.

To add another layer of weirdness to this whole mess, here’s a story from the New York Post, painting Senator Antoine Thompson’s office in a less than favorable light.

I had hoped to put something about this in today’s print edition, because it sounds pretty cool to me: This Saturday at the Main Place Mall is the first Buffalo Niagara Green Expo. The event kicks off Buffalo Green Week, which ends next weekend with the American Solar Energy Society Conference at the Convention Center.
Essentially, the Green Expo is a trade show, in which dozens of vendors will demonstrate their energy-saving, renewables-sourced, carbon-footprint-reducing products and services: electronic waste recycling, green roofing materials, hay bale construction, etc.

There will also be planning and advocacy groups, too, ranging from local artists Ran Webber, with his adaptive reuse plan for the Skyway, to Buffalo First, which promotes locally owned businesses and local-sourcing of goods and services. The expo will “feature dozens of local businesses and organizations who will have information for the whole family on how to go green in your home, business, community, school and career,” says Heather Zeisz, a spokesperson for State Senator Antoine Thompson, the event’s primary sponsor.

Zeisz told Artvoice that climate change is “the number one threat to our environment” and that Thompson introduced legislation last month that would authorize the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to regulate greenhouse emissions in the state. New York State.  A similar bill passed the Assembly last year but died in the Republican-held Senate.

AV’s roving reporter Ellen Przepasniak sent in this dispatch from yesterday afternoon’s IDA reform protest, organized by the Coalition for Economic Justice:

While protestors in period costume held a tea party outside City Hall on Wednesday to protect unfair taxation, the Coalition for Economic Justice held a smaller, calmer rally a few blocks away at the Ellicott Street Post Office to remind taxpayers about IDA reform.

Roughly 30 demonstrators turned out Wednesday afternoon. The idea was to catch people filing their taxes at the last minute because they couldn’t afford to pay their tax bill. Allison Duwe, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, wanted to send the message that industrial development agencies, which give tax breaks to companies for economic development work, are currently operating under an unfair system that continues to reward big corporations.

The way Duwe sees it, the current tax system is fundamentally wrong. She wants to hold businesses to more accountability of how they spend taxpayer dollars to make sure the rich aren’t getting richer. “Taxes should be levied fairly and spent wisely,” she says. “We really need to change the way we do business.”

The six IDAs in Erie County don’t have a great track record of investing wisely on development and turning a profit on projects. Duwe says too often, money is given to out-of-state contractors that support low-wage workers. She wants reform that creates solid, family-supporting jobs for local workers so that money can stay in our area to stimulate our local economy. “Now more than ever, Western New Yorkers need accountable businesses that are committed to creating quality jobs for local residents,” Duwe says. “We can’t afford to spend tax dollars on empty office parks and low-wage jobs.”

Senator Antoine Thompson and Assembly Member Sam Hoyt have both recently introduced IDA reform legislation. Duwe believes it will help to increase job standards, transparency and accountability so that taxpayers can be sure their money is being spent prudently.

Local developer Carl Paladino recently filmed a “My 3 Minutes” for Artvoice TV decrying Hoyt’s bill, which would mandate prevailing wage requirements on IDA projects. Paladino claims that the bill doesn’t make fiscal sense for Western New York developers.

At the rally, Duwe closed with a limerick she wrote:

There was a big bank looking to expand
So it went to the taxpayer and stuck out its hand
It said, give a big perk
And we’ll create lots of work
A few million in tax breaks is all we demand

Put up your dukes, Carl Paladino! There’s a challenge on the table.

According to City Finance Commissioner Janet Penksa, quoted in yesterday’s Buffalo News, the city’s proposed traffic light cameras will generate $2.75 million annually based on $50 fines. Mayor Byron Brown has been pushing the plan.

That would equal 55,000 tickets yearly. Or, 150 tickets per day, 365 days a year. This “pilot project” will involve 50 surveillance cameras at traffic lights around the city for the next five years.

The home-rule message was approved by the Common Council in a 5-3 vote on Tuesday. Mickey Kearns, David Rivera, and Richard Fontana voted against it.

According to a press release from Assemblymember Sam Hoyt’s office, issued yesterday, the bill will be approved in Albany next week. Antoine Thompson is the sponsor of the measure in the NYS Senate.

The News reports that Common Council members “would have one last chance to approve or reject the initiative,” after it is passed in Albany next week.

Proponents say it is not a “money grab.”

Put another way, the plan will mean an average of a little more than one $50 red light ticket issued every ten minutes, every hour, seven days a week, for the next 1,825 days in the city of Buffalo—totaling $13.75 million dollars in five years.

Penksa said the fines might increase to $75 if they’re paid late.

We couldn’t stop by the grand opening of Price-Rite on Sunday, but John Duke of the First Amendment Club sent us this account:

Shopping for groceries became a lot less expensive on Sunday. As a matter of fact, for the first time in a long while, food was being sold at the Rite Price in the Stuyvesant Plaza, 250 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.

After reviewing how the city was able to bring Price Rite into what is unquestionably the Rite Location, Mayor Brown cut the ribbon to ceremoniously open the supermarket to throngs of eager shoppers, who were assisted by 130 of their friends and neighbors who are now employed by the store.

125 of the employees live within four sides of a city block. “Price Rite is environmentally friendly,” according to State Senator Antoine Thompson, “and their employees do not need automobiles to travel back and forth to work.” Price Rite also encourages the use of reusable totes. There is a charge of 10 cents per plastic bag for non-tote users.

I put two items in my tote, 17 pounds of meat, and took it to the check out line.  There I handed the cashier a $10 bill and received change back. I purchased a 12.77 lb. kosher turkey (I was surprised to find out that turkeys are religious, but then again they probably do a lot of praying around the Holidays) and a 3.48 lb. corned beef (I always wake up praying after Saint Patrick’s Day). Some how I felt I had done my Sabbath Duty.

The corned beef at $1.79 per lb. came to $6.23 and the turkey at $0.29 cents per lb. came to $3.70. On the way out I was handed a complimentary 8oz bottle of Tropical Energia and 2 cans of Pepsi.  Once home, after a tiring morning, I drank the energy drink and quickly wrote this column while doing my Spring cleaning and cooking the turkey…

I’m not big on energy drinks; I think I’ll stick to not being able to handle coffee. I’d write more, but I gotta run, I think I’m about to take up jogging. I sure hope the turkey doesn’t burn before I get back.

Two years ago, Artvoice published a cover story about the Bigger Better Bottle Bill (BBBB). The measure, which has passed a couple of times in the State Assembly, only to die on the Senate floor, is back again with more momentum than ever. In essence, the bill expands the existing nickel deposit on carbonated beverages to include the non-carbonated variety. Supporters argue the measure could generate anywhere from $118 million to $218 million for the state next year, while cleaning the environment and encouraging green business. Last week, Connecticut passed a similar law.

This is the first time the common sense measure is being considered since the departure of Republican Senator Joseph Bruno, who was deeply beholden to soda and supermarket lobbyists.

Consider this email sent two years ago to some local bill opponents by attorney Steven W. Harris, of Featherstonhaugh, Wiley, Clyne & Cordo, LLP, a firm that lobbied against the bill back then:

“As Yogi Berra once said…”it ain’t over ‘till its over”, but the Senate has officially rejected the Governor’s Expanded Bottle bill proposal during today’s negotiations.  While I won’t say that it is impossible for it to resurrect itself in the next few hours, it is very unlikely that this will be discussed further.  You can now all take a collective sigh of relief (or stop holding your breath).  The governor will reintroduce this proposal as a Governor’s Program Bill so I will still be busy the rest of session.  We can talk about what all this means in Florida in two weeks so see you all then!”

This Friday (March 6), the new Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee—Senator Antoine Thompson—has scheduled a public hearing on the BBBB at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society (25 Nottingham Court) from 10am-12pm. The hearing follows another one in the State Capitol building in Albany on Wednesday (March 4), also sponsored by Thompson.

You can learn more about the issue by visiting the Container Recycling Institute Web site and find out how to take action by visiting NYPIRG.

State Senator Antoine Thompson

Last week we met with State Senator Antoine Thompson, a second-term legislator who seems to have positioned himself well to direct a great deal of public investment into Western New York in the next couple years.

Thompson was co-chair of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee (the first African-American senator to hold that post), and so played a key role in winning the Democrats their first majority in both houses of the state legislature in decades. In reward, Thompson was made deputy majority whip and chairman of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee. That committee steers a lot of capital, and even more money will likely flow through it in the next two years thanks to the federal stimulus package.

So we thought we’d better talk to the chairman to hear his plans. The full interview will appear in next week’s print edition, but I thought I’d share just a little bit of it today:

Antoine Thompson: The Youth Conservation Corps is a program that was started in the 1980s. It was generally funded by the feds, but the state never put a dollar in the program. Now, with the federal stimulus, the Department of Labor is going to put more money into the Youth Conservation Corps, which is going to hire thousands of kids and young adults in the state. But the state still wasn’t going to put any money into it to promote working in parks, dealing with everything from weatherization to recycling in communities, a whole host of things that can promote conservation,—in addition to working with youth bureaus across the state. AmeriCorps is a great program. Wouldn’t it be logical to expand that effort with an environmental focus, where young people who go through a successful program like AmeriCorps can then apply for Youth Conservation Corps money, and those young people would then be trained in conservation, doing conservation projects in cities towns and  villages all over the state?

That program’s my baby, so I’m really pushing to get $30 million in the budget  to go with whatever federal money comes in.

AV: You mention federal stimulus money, some of which will be directed toward developing renewable energy, creating so-called “green collar” jobs, and other environmental projects. How specifically will your chairing the committee that will consider these projects benefit Western New York?

Antoine Thompson: First of all, I never try to promise more than I can deliver, but I always try to deliver more than I promise.

Most of this money is going to come in chunks to various parts of state government. When we talk about waterfront revitalization money, my committee is the committee that allocates $27 million a year in waterfront revitalization money. EPF. So when we talk about getting money out of the state for waterfront revitalization, yours truly will be the one who’s working those meetings and deciding how much of that money can come to Western New York.

Read more next week.

From today’s New York Times. There’s good reason that Malcolm Smith had Antoine Thompson at his right hand yesterday.