9/07/2005

Derelection of Duty...

The flood waters are still rising on Buffalo's east-side. No one seems to care that the levee ruptured years ago. The waters are rising so fast that the town of Perrysburg is now threatened 40 miles to Buffalo's south...

a picture for you

I heard today from Tom Trathen's attorney, Scott Cannon, that the City of Buffalo's Law Dept. plans to appeal the outcome of tomorrow's decision which most certainly will favor Tom Trathen. He wants to start paying Perrysburg property taxes and get along with some economic development 40 mile south of Buffalo.

To make matters more confusing our very own Common Council voted 7-1 early this summer to remove a clause from the property's title which prevented Tom Trathen from buying the property. Read that strange story here...David Franczyk, Common Council President was apparently enjoying the Italian Riviera while that vote was taken...go figure.

Today, our very own Common Council President sworn to up-hold the City Charter and make Buffalo a safe place has filed a law suit against us, the City of Buffalo. The BN informed us of Common Council President Franczyk's dereliction of duty with this story today...

  • Cattaraugus County Judge Larry M. Himelein has scheduled an Oct. 6 hearing on the suit filed by several plaintiffs, including the group Friends of J.N. Adam, two residents of the Perrysburg area and Buffalo Common Council President David A. Franczyk. The skirmish puts Franczyk, an opponent of the sale, in the position of suing the city for which he works. Various state agencies and the president of the logging company are also named in the suit.

I don’t believe an elected public official in the history of Buffalo, while still in office, has ever been party to a law-suit against the City, the entity he is supposed to represent. On the one hand, now that he is back from Italy, he’s directing our Law Dept. to squander limited resources and file an appeal based on the most probable outcome of tommorow's Cattaragus County Supreme Court ruling in Little Valley, NY. On the other hand he's forcing the City of Buffalo to defend itself against a lawsuit that the so-called friends of JN Adam are forcing down our throats.

I've been reporting since December, the former JN Adam TB Hosptial in Perrysburg, NY has been closed since 1993. The City of Buffalo had a 10 year opportunity to do something about the place. They decided to do nothing. Yet when Common Council President David Franzyck heard that Tom Trathen, a logger from Livingston County, signed a purchase contract for the 650 acres he set in motion a strategy to try to "save" JN Adam. Common sense says that we have to save ourselves from David Franczyk.

Transfiguration Church - Interior Wollenberg Grain Elevator Terminal City
click each Broadway/Fillmore pic and learn more

David Franczyk claims to be a preservationist, yet has done NOTHING to help save the Woodlawn Row Houses or the Wollenberg Grain Elevator. Both of these properties are located on the City's east side. The Woodlawn Row Houses were designated a local landmark in 1981 and the Wollenberg Grain Elevator was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Both of these properties are abandoned, boarded, derelict and vacant. There is no plan. The Woodlawn Row Houses sit 50 feet away from a Buffalo Public school and the Wollenber Grain Elevator is 100 yards away from the recently renovated Emerson school on Sycamore Street in the heart of Broadway Fillmore where David Franzcyk presumably still lives.

Imagine for a moment if Common Council President David Franczyk focused his attention on the Broadway Fillmore District instead of Perrysburg, NY 40 mile to the south. Maybe the Wollenberg Grain Elevator would be properly secured...and those Woodlawn Row Houses...across from a public school...perhaps Tom Trathen will donate some plywood to help us properly secure and protect them before they succumb to "demolition by neglect." I'll ask...

Meanwhile, please contact -- Brian Lipke - Control Board, Chairman to voice your dismay and disappointment at David Franczyk's dereliction of duty. Let him know that you think our Common Council President should be thinking of Forest Avenue here in Buffalo and not the forest in Perrysburg, 40 miles away.

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