Tearing a page from the Bread and Puppet Theater, the Coalition for Economic Justice staged the following skit at the condos down by the waterfront yesterday. Pictured is a great big Tom Golisano puppet.

Location: Behind Waterfront Place Condos
Date: 10/1/09
Time: 4:00 PM

A Press Conference in 1 Act:

Setting: Rally at Waterfront Condos

Designated “Cast”:
Politician played by Eric Gallion
Developer  (Carl Paladino) played by Roger Cook
Condo Buyer  (Stephen Barnes) played by Harrison Watkins

Foreclosed Home Owner played by Jane Piazza
Unemployed Worker played by Rachel Wilson

Activist: Eric Walker

Act 1: The Press Conference (Politician, Developer, and Condo Buyer stand next to each other, behind podium)

Politician: “We are gathered here today to celebrate the opening of the Waterfront Place Condos.  It has been my honor to pave the way for these condos to be built in a tax-free zone, spurring economic development that only the wealthy can afford.  This development is a perfect example of creatively using the Empire Zone program, which was originally intended to promote investment and job creation in poorer areas, to subsidize luxury condos for the entitled elite.  Without further ado, I would like to introduce the developer who had the courage to take advantage of these subsidies in the third poorest city in the country when he could have built these condos with his own money.” (more…)

Buffalo Rising has posted Brian Davis’s Facebook page response to Jim Heaney’s front-page analysis of his personal financial history in last Sunday’s Buffalo News. Shame on me for not beating them to it: A friend emailed this to me on Monday, but I honestly thought it was a joke:

Happy Easter! I just wanted to take this opportunity to say, “thank you” to all of you whom shown support and offered words of encouragement as I have endured major public scrutiny over the last 8 weeks. Recognizing, that as a “Public Official”, public scrutiny is something I must deal with and at the same time be held accountable.

The most recent article published in the Buffalo News was filled with slander and inaccuracies and put me off as a “Deadbeat”.  Everyone that knows me know that if there is nothing more important to me, my kids are my pride and joy! I proud my myself on knowing this to be a fact and more importantly, knowing that I place my kids before my own selfish needs. More importantly, to see nonsense published makes me wonder who they are talking about, where did this info come from and why did it make front page of the newspaper?

Well let me tell you, this info is attributed to the Democratic Party, one developer, and the news repeated role in trying to pick their own elected officials to represent what is known as districts commonly represented by “blacks!” This is evidenced by the successful attempt to rid the Buffalo Common Council of representatives like, James Pitts, Charley Fisher and Beverly Gray and now the methodical attempt to rid the City of Buffalo of myself and MAYOR BYRON BROWN.

I refuse to allow this to go any further and now have vowed that I will be fighting back, speaking the truth, letting everyone who cares to know what is really going on regularly. Equally important I will be re-doubling my efforts to make the Ellicott District (City of Buffalo) the best district in the City of Buffalo. We can not allow for those that had a small monopoly on this city continue to play these games, choose our Mayor AND Councilmembers or pimp our communities any longer.

THE FIRST THING THAT I AM ASKING IS THAT ALL THOSE THAT HAVE A HOME DELIVERY OF THE BUFFALO NEWS CALL 842-1111 AND CANCEL YOUR
SUBSCRIPTION OF THE PAPER.  IF YOU ARE IN FACT READING THIS EMAIL, YOU HAVE INTERNET SERVICE AND YOU CAN READ THE NEWS ON-LINE FOR FREE. SHOULD YOU NEED TO PHYSICALLY READ THE PAPER, YOU CAN PICK IT UP AT ANY STORE OR BUY FROM AGENTS STANDING ON MANY OF THE CORNERS. THESE FOLKS GET A % OF THE MONEY THEY TURN IN. YOU CAN HELP IN THIS SMALL WAY TO KEEP THESE AGENTS EMPLOYED AND TAKE MONEY OUT OF THE NEWS POCKET!

This is a very small way you can stand up for your community, show your support for progress and send a clear message to the news that their lies, slander, attacks, and control will no longer be tolerated.

When calling the news to cancel your subscription, let them know that you have had it with their attacks on your community and I encourage you to get 3 others to do the same. WATCH WHAT THIS SMALL DEED WILL DO TO STOP THE NONSENSE OF THE BUFFALO NEWS, I PROMISE!

That “one developer,” I assume, is Davis’s nemesis, Carl Paladino. Paladino has long complained about Davis’s failure to file campaign finance disclosure forms with the state, and he certainly has little positive to say about Davis as a public servant, but to my knowledge Paladino never spread stories of the sort that Heaney found: the failure to pay child support, the suspension of his driver’s license, a suspended campaign account, a litany of bad checks, tax liens, etc. None of those stories came my way from folks in Len Lenihan’s Democratic headquarters, and I don’t think anyone whispered these stories into Heaney’s ear, either. They’re public records. If Heaney and I have anything to apologize for, it’s not digging up this stuff earlier.

It’s typical of Buffalo’s politicians to spin criticism as politically motivated. Davis says he’s going to start “speaking the truth” in regard to these matters. I’m eager for him to begin. He’s been ducking my phone calls and emails for more than two months on these issues alone.

UPDATE: Bill Trezevant, the once and future contender for the Ellicott District Council seat, who wrote the Common Council asking for an investigation into Davis’s behavior, responds to Davis’s insinuation that these revelations are racially motivated attacks:

“Attacks on Me and the Mayor are from the Democratic Party…They are attacks on Black Districts”…

This is the last straw.  The days of Race Wars should have been over when my white Polish mother married my Black father in 1966 when their marriage was illegal under state law.  We as a community have got to come together and say that we want a better tomorrow.  Not one based on race, not one based on gender, but one based on who we can all be, regardless of color.

I don’t know of one section of this city that believes it is “a Black District” or “White District” or “Red District”, but rather as one district.  A district with common hopes, common dreams and common goals.  Mr. Davis after seven years of division now says that the scrutiny on him and the Mayor are because they are “black”, rather than because of what they have done and not done is a slap in the face to every citizen of Buffalo.

I need not go further, except to say that when one is guilty they usually deflect and seek to move the heat to another subject.  In this case, Mr. Davis is trying to do just that.  Mayor, when will you speak out?

Once upon a time, Trezevant and I had harsh words with one another over AV’s treatment of the stewardship of Transfiguration Church on Sycamore Street. He eventually came to convince me that we’d been unfair to him and his partners in that long and star-crossed rehabilitation project, a subject we will revisit someday. In the meantime, I take no position on his candidacy for Davis’s seat, whenever it might be contested. But I agree with him entirely that the suggestion that race motivates reporting on Davis’s financial irresponsibility is absurd and desperate.

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.

Carl Paladino, who somehow manages to straddle both the Democratic and Republican points of view, is definitely NOT a fan of Bush’s planned $700 billion bailout.

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…which I think is a pretty good idea. He explains how it works in this interview. But that’s not why I’m posting it; I’m posting it, of course, for the neat little slam he slips in at the very end against me and AV contributors Mike Niman and Bruce Jackson.

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Listen: Carl Paladino on Volker

I stopped by Carl Paladino ’s office yesterday and happened to have my video cam with me, so I asked Carl if he wanted to talk about anything. Never a man to hesitate when it comes to expressing an opinion, his topic for the day was republican state senator Dale Volker. Unfortunately, the video was terrible because I forgot to change the settings from a night time shoot in a dim music club. Nevertheless, here’s the audio. Expect more opinions from Carl and others in the community on Artvoice.com as we begin a new series of audio-video blogs titled “My 3 Minutes”.

A couple weeks back, we posted Carl Paladino’s radio commercial condemning Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James Williams and calling for his resignation.

Now Paladino is pushing a bigger agenda: a state constitutional convention to reconsider the way state government does business. Here’s his challenge, coming to your radio soon:

(UPDATE: Here’s the audio of Paladino’s latest radio ad, and the transcript is below.)

CONSITUTIONAL CONVENTION
AUGUST 20, 2008

HEY UPSTATE NEW YORKERS. / IT’S ME AGAIN,/ CARL PALADINO. AREN’T YOU JUST PEACHY ABOUT OUR STATE LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION? / WITH GREAT RHETORIC, ANTICIPATION AND FANFARE, THEY DRESSED UP FOR THE $6 BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET DEFICIT DANCE AND THEN DID THE ALBANY TWO-STEP WITH THE SHREW SHELLY SILVER CUTTING ONLY $400M. / ALBANY IS NOT ABOUT YOU./ IT’S ABOUT A GLUTTONOUS GOVERNMENT PARALZYED IN THE THREE-MEN-IN-A ROOM BOX INCAPABLE OF CHECKING OUR FALL INTO THE ABYSS, / ARROGANT, PREDATORY UNIONS / AND LEADERS ENDOWED WITH UNSHACKLED POWER AS A RESULT OF OUR IRRATIONAL HISTORY OF ELECTING THE IMPOTENT AND MINDLESS TO COMMAND OUR LIVES. /

THEY FAVOR UNIONS AND RAPE THE TAXPAYER MAKING THE FEEBLE EXCUSE THAT THEY DIDN’T READ THE BILL./

HELLO!

WICKS LAW, TAYLOR LAW, REDISTRICTING, TERM LIMITS, RESIDENCY,/ DEBILITATING, OVERREACHING REGULATION./ THE HIGHEST TAXES IN AMERICA, DYSFUNCTIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS, REDUNDANT WASTEFUL GOVERNMENTS, INSOLENT PUBLIC AUTHORITIES,/ IT GOES ON AND ON. SO MANY ISSUES, AND NO HOPE FOR AN IMPOVERISHED UPSTATE GROVELING AT THE MERCY OF A THRIVING DOWNSTATE. /

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH OF THE INCOMPETENT, SELF-SERVING, TWISTED MENTALITY OF ALBANY?/

MAJORITIES OF THE ASSEMBLY AND SENATE CAN CALL FOR A REFERENDUM TO CONVENE AND ELECT DELEGATES TO A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (THE LAST WAS HELD IN 1938) TO RESHAPE OUR LAWS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. / WE’RE PETITIONING ALL OF THIS YEAR’S LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES TO PLEDGE, WITHIN 7 DAYS, TO SPONSOR SUCH A BILL AND FILIBUSTER THEIR CHAMBERS ON ALL OTHER LEGISLATION UNTIL THE BILL PASSES./

WE WILL PUBLISH THE RESULTS IN ARTVOICE AND ON ARTVOICE.COM BEFORE THE PRIMARY.

IT’S NO LONGER A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE. / THERE IS NO MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THIS ELECTION. /

A GREAT MAN ONCE SAID ALL THAT’S NECESSARY FOR EVIL TO SUCCEED IS THAT GOOD MEN DO NOTHING./

IF THEY DON’T MAKE THE PLEDGE, VOTE FOR THEIR OPPONENT AND LET THEM GO FIND ANOTHER CAREER.

CARL P. PALADINO
CEO
ELLICOTT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

Developer Carl Paladino is a terrific (and prolific) letter writer. This week we have two from him. The first letter is a response to this article in the March 13 AV by George Sax. The article is not about Paladino at all—it’s about Empire Zone benefits being extended to a project by the Kissling Interests in a well-to-do section of Allentown. The article refers, however, to Paladino’s high-end housing project on the waterfront downtown, which also received Empire Zone benefits. Hence the letter.

The second letter is a salvo in Paladino’s ongoing war with developer James Sandoro, Ellicott District Councilmember Brian Davis and the Brown administration.

[Editor's note, 3/27: There's a little more on this in this week's print paper (p. 5) and here.]