buffalopundit

‘Twas 2008, and the county was screwed the people were not in a holiday mood. The taxes, they said, were quite high, thanks, enough, and people agreed that the times were quite tough. On a floor called sixteen, a man crunched up some numbers Six Sigma, he thought, would drag us out of our slumber. Amid raises for managers, programs were cut. The lawmakers’ charges, he’d always rebut. In order to pay for his raises so steep, the people’d fish money from pockets less deep. Thanks to... Read Full Story

This is actually  very good news for Buffalo . In my opinion, it’s tantamount to placing the cornerstone on the new Peace Bridge. WASHINGTON – The United States and Canada on Friday announced a pilot project at the Peace Bridge that will shift U.S. Customs and Immigration officers to Fort Erie, Ont., where they will inspect all U.S.-bound cars and trucks.This means that the primary and secondary inspections of vehicles entering the country being done on Buffalo’s West Side will – at a date... Read Full Story

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Fetishists. Read Full Story

It’s no secret that I detest New York’s archaic electoral fusion system , which enables platform-free, principle-free minor parties to exert undue influence on the political system. In one of my recent posts about Clarence politics , I wrote this: Conservative Party chairman  Ralph Lorigo was personally, directly involved  in the  now-abandoned plan to build a large Wegmans’ on Transit Road in Clarence , just north of Transit Road. Lorigo represents  local developers like Benderson , but... Read Full Story

Karla Thomas is just the most vocal . She’s just one of a number of people who have taken a bullet for the maliciously inept, political dysfuncitionocracy of Mayor Steve Casey and his willing, charming puppet, Byron Brown. All of Buffalo’s many problems have a common denominator – politics. Karla Thomas? She was happy to be a well-connected Grassroots associate of Brown’s, content to take a cush patronage job for which she was arguably unqualified. She was happy to follow Brown’s and... Read Full Story

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) breaks down what’s going on right now in Washington, as Speaker John Boehner (OH-8) can’t get his caucus to back a horrible plan to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling, but re-engage in this process in 6 months – a plan that won’t see the light of day in the Senate. One of the stories coming out of last night’s aborted vote indicated that cuts would be further sharpened, affecting Pell Grants. The differences couldn’t be more stark now: the... Read Full Story

On Sunday morning at 12:01 AM, Buffalonian same-sex marriage advocates, and longtime partners, Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd will be wed at a public ceremony on Goat Island in Niagara Falls, New York . The Falls will be illuminated in the colors of the rainbow for the event. They will be the first couple to be legally wed in the state of New York, in recognition of their tireless efforts to bring about the legalization of same-sex marriage, which becomes law on July 24th. Among the guests... Read Full Story

I know that underground parking is expensive, but this sort of pisses me off.  Then again, the parking here is next to the elevated 190, so who really cares? With that said, anything on that parcel that doesn’t look like a Communist apartment block would be a massive improvement.  Therefore, this is a massive improvement. Some progress on something would be nice, and *shock horror* retail & services! OMG! Maybe Dave Franczyk will block it because it may harm the snack shack’s business... Read Full Story

There’s nary an Albany special interest group that is particularly pleased with the Cuomo administration. He is leading from the center, as good leaders should, alternating between conservative fiscal policies and progressive social policies. There is no question that Cuomo has pushed a dysfunctional Albany legislature into implementing meaningful change. Whether it be reworking union contracts, SUNY 2020, balancing the budget, passing same sex marriage, or passing big ethics reforms, most of... Read Full Story