Here is mayor Byron Brown cutting a ribbon with Brian Davis on June 4, as covered by BuffaloRising.com.

But now with the election fast-approaching, he brought out the big scissors on Sunday for the opening of two-way traffic on the 700 block of Main Street, according to the Buffalo News.

Then, just this morning, he was at MLK park for another ribbon-cutting with Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples and Common Council member Demone Smith, according to this press release from the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

This makes two ribbons cut in 48 hours for Brown.

Can he keep up this break-neck pace until the Democratic primary on September 15? Everyone knows how dangerous it is to run with scissors.

A friend told me Friday that last week Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples walked out on the vote over legalizing same-sex marriage in New York State. Didn’t vote yes or no; didn’t vote at all. Just walked out.

Sharon Bailey writes about it here.

Here’s an excerpt from Outcome’s story:

Member of the Assembly Crystal Peoples had voted yes on the bill in 2007. Her position in 2009 in unknown because she did not vote on the issue.

Peoples avoided voting on the same-sex marriage bill by walking out of the Assembly chamber.

A spokesman for Crystal Peoples´ office told Outcome, that Assembly member Peoples does not believe that the bill will pass in the Senate and decided not to vote on the bill in 2009 because of her doubt that it will not even be put for a vote in the Senate. The spokesperson would avoided responding to whether or not Peoples still supports civil rights for her gay and lesbian constituents.

Peoples represents parts of several neighborhoods in Buffalo that have significant gay and lesbian residents.

In 2007, when Peoples voted yes on the bill it was widely known that the Republican controled Senate would not be voting on the bill. This year the Senate Democrats hold the majority by a small margin. Several Senators including Buffalo’s William Stachowski, have indicated that they would vote no if the bill was ever brought to a Senate vote.

Senate Majority leader Malcolm Smith has stated that he would bring the bill to a vote if he was assured that the bill would get the 32 votes needed to ensure passage.

The bills Senate Sponsor Tom Duane of New York City is confident that enough Republicans would support the bill to offset those Democrats who do not support the bill.

In a statement Duane said, “The eyes of the State, and indeed the nation, turn to the New York State Senate in the fight for marriage equality. Today’s vote in the Assembly in favor of same-sex civil marriage once again proved that civil rights can not and will not be denied.”

Duane added, “I am confident that this year my Senate will uphold this fundamental legal principle and vote for my right, our right, to be married this year.”

What’s the message Buffalo Students First is sending to voters this weekend promoting the incumbent candidates, three days before the school board election? That depends on where you live in the city of Buffalo.

First, here’s a mailer sent by Buffalo Students First to voters in the 144th Assembly District, represented by Sam Hoyt. The message on the back begins: “The politicians and special interest groups want to take over control of our schools. We can’t allow that to happen…”

If that’s the case, what does one make of  this mailer sent by Buffalo Students First to city voters in the 141st Assembly District, represented by Crystal Peoples? Voters there, primarily African-American, received an open letter from Mayor Byron Brown, Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples, and State Senator Antoine Thompson, endorsing the incumbent slate of Florence Johnson, Catherine Collins, and Chris Jacobs.

Are Brown, Peoples, and Thompson not politicians? And is Buffalo Students First and/or the Buffalo Niagara Partnership  not a special interest group? News Flash: THE POLITICIANS AND SPECIAL INTERESTS CURRENTLY HAVE CONTROL OF OUR SCHOOLS. And it’s clear they will spend a great deal of money in the hope of keeping it that way.

The blatant hypocrisy displayed by Buffalo Students First in sponsoring these two divergent messages should be offensive to every voter in the city. But there’s plenty of shame to go around here. Why would Brown, Peoples, and Thompson lend their support to a slate of candidates in an election that is held in May for the express reason that it should not  be political?

And why would the Buffalo Niagara Partnership hide behind a phony name like Buffalo Students First, when it is clear that they are directly involved in the funding of this campaign that preaches two different messages to urban voters based largely on the color of their skin? The evidence of their involvement is here in this one-page financial disclosure form, signed by Glenn Aronow, Director of Government Relations for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

Then there’s Saturday’s Buffalo News, which contains this editorial endorsing the incumbents.

(While writing this blog, I have received a report from a resident of University Heights that all the cars in the neighborhood had anonymous flyers on the windshield this morning, referencing this Buffalo News endorsement of the status quo.)

“Ideally, a School Board member encompasses a strong work ethic, willingness to do the necessary homework and the ability to ask the right questions and to come to a fair decision without undue political influence. Florence Johnson, Christopher Jacobs and Catherine Collins have done so, and deserve to continue in their current roles,” the News editorial staff opines, apparently with a straight face.

Is it not interesting that their very own columnists have offered contrary opinions? Consider Rod Watson’s May 29, 2008 article that begins, “Despite the many things the Buffalo Board of Education is probing in the McKinley High School fiasco, one critical issue has yet to surface: What to do about board members who appear to lie to the public?”

Or Donn Esmonde, who wrote on April 16, 2008: “Put the pieces together, and you get a picture of what happens when a school system is run by the integrity-lite and the ethically challenged. They all will tell you that nothing matters more than the kids. Amazingly, their noses do not grow an inch when they say it.”

Watson summed it up also on July 3, 2008 in an article entitled: School Board lacks guts to do right thing. He begins: “Of all the reforms possible in the wake of the McKinley High School fiasco, the most obvious has yet to be mentioned: Students need a union. And lobbyists. And bigger allowances, so they can make campaign contributions to buy off legislators who write the laws that Buffalo school officials are hiding behind to avoid holding anyone accountable.”

“You can thank the unions and their grip on Albany’s legislative machine, as well as their intimidating ability to affect a School Board candidacy in elections with miniscule turnouts,” he continues.

Shall we also thank the editorial staff of his paper for their ability to try to do the very same thing?

Tuesday’s school board election will be decided by city voters. It should be decided by the parents of children who attend classes every day in the city of Buffalo, and by every city resident who recognizes the critical importance of improving the quality of education for the children of our impoverished city—where only 46% of students graduate from high school in four years—a number that has worsened over the past five years under the the questionable guidance of the incumbent at-large school board members, who now seek an additional five years to finish the job.

Their biggest success, they claim, is a $1 billion “state of the art” school renovation project that is so hopelessly out of touch with progressive green-building standards that the electrical bills to run the buildings will be an albatross around taxpayers’ necks long into the future.

The title of the Buffalo News editorial nails it on the head: Tuesday’s Buffalo school board vote will determine future of district.

Wouldn’t it be a surprising miracle if, when voters step into the booth this Tuesday, May 5, they remember the little voices of the children who deserve so much better, and forget the propaganda dumped upon them by business people from Niagara Falls and the suburbs, who would have us believe that things are just fine in the Buffalo Schools?

Vote!

The marble halls of the State Capitol in Albany are echoing once again with debate on the scandalous topic of medicinal “marihuana,” as the Assembly passed a bill (89-52) in favor of allowing doctors to prescribe the drug to very sick patients who don’t respond well to currently legal pharmaceuticals. Currently, 12 states have medicinal marijuana laws on the books.

Under the new bill, patients would be legally allowed to possess 2.5 ounces of pot for treatment of chronic pain, for example, without threat of arrest. The State would also grant them the right to grow up to 12 plants for their own use.

Under the new bill, “the department of health would monitor such use and promulgate rules and regulations for registry identification cards; (and) provides for reports by the department of health to the governor and legislature on the medical use of marihuana.” (Interesting, how the current documents adopt the same antiquated spelling as the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937—not commonly used since Louis Armstrong was a young viper.) (more…)