The full text of Jake's December 1st article is available here - Delivering Redemption.
__________________________________________________________________________
12/17/2007
Byron Responds
Finally got my hands on Byron Brown's response to Jake Halpern's recent Wall Street Journal article about development and economic issues here in Buffalo, NY. The following letter appeared in the Decemeber 11th issue of the Wall Street Journal.
The full text of Jake's December 1st article is available here - Delivering Redemption.
The full text of Jake's December 1st article is available here - Delivering Redemption.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
"Reduced the total tax rate by almost 10%"? My bill just went UP by 25%. Somebody else must be getting my "reduction", plus some.
Byron is a unworthy of comment.
The issue I take is that you can say $X is being spent on new development, but at the same time, how much exactly is taxpayer funded govt projects? I expect that a significant portion of the money being spent can be attributed to govt related construction and therefore, really of now benefit to anyone in terms of increased tax revenue or jobs.
Ask the Mayor how much the city loses in property taxes after the Public Bridge Authority demolishes 128 homes and 25 businesses in the Columbus Park community. The PBA claims it is "giving" the city 25 million dollars to revitalize the Peace Bridge neighborhood but fails to mention that this vibrant, intact community must be destroyed first. It's nothing more than political blackmail and paid for by tax dollars. In essence, we who live here are paying for our own demise. Politicians are doing what they do best: fighting over the leftover scraps of government subsidzed monies. The beautiful arial view of the city you display shows a densly populated urban community just to the east of the current Peace Bridge(Columbus Park, Busti, Columbus Park West). Homes that were built and lived in by Colonel Ward(Ward pumping station), Paolo Busti(Urban Planner for Joseph Ellicott, Michael Shea (Shea's Buffalo), and my property owned by Bishop John Timon (ca. 1863) to name a few. Imagine, by this time next year the same view will show nothing more than Buffalo's version of the "Big Dig". 45 acres of leveled one-of-kind homes, historic properties, businesses and hundreds of trees. An area that is almost double in size of Sqaw Island. Followed by years and years of construction, diverted trucks spewing diesel emission toxins deeper into the West Side community. You can bet that once the PBA successfully invokes condemnation rights the first time around, there will be no stopping the spread of this concrete cancer. Not when there goal is to put over one million trucks a year on the two bridges. There will always be a need for more land to dock and inspect tens of thousands of trucks. Ask the Mayor what percentage the city will get from non-tax payer revenue generated by this 337 million dollar government funded project. After the homes are obliterated and the people dispered, a second construction phase will be imposed to build another bridge. By 2016 (projected completion date)where will Mayor Brown be....not in City Hall. Boston's Big Dig was plagued by years of delays longer and cost seven times more than originally budgeted (2.9 billion to over 14 billion). This community has no idea what they are asking for when they say 'just build the bridge'. Those of us who live in the shadow of the Peace Bridge know. But the Mayor, Congressman Higgins and the Governor have done everything possible to silence us from telling the truth. Everything except bury us...which if the PBA has it's way..will happen in March 2008.
Kathy Mecca, President
Niagara Gateway Columbus Park Association
Post a Comment