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Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

The Week's Winners & Losers

Johns

During the Buffalo Common Council meeting on May 5, officials and Police Chief Dan Derenda discussed a potential plan to publicize the identitites and photos of those arrested for soliciting prostitutes on the Buffalo Police website. Just ask Chris Lee, how embarassing that could potentially be.

Orange is a Minorityr

Facing a tight race for the 26th District, Republicans called in the tanned one himself, Speaker of the House John Boehner, to rally rich conservatives behind Jane Corwin at a May 9 fundraiser in Lancaster. We’re going to go out on a limb and say he was likely the only person of color in attendance.

Lowered Expectations

Local tourism officials on May 9 unveiled their new marketing campaign, “Buffalo: For Real”, a slogan meant to invoke’s our region’s history and (I guess) differentiate from all those “fake” places like Las Vegas and Orlando. Basically what they’re trying to say is: “Buffalo: I mean, what did you expect, Paris?”.

James Williams

The Board of Education began its’ evaluation of the beleaguered superintendant on May 9, the first of three sessions to determine his fate. Williams’ review comes at quite possibly the worst possible time, with a parents boycott and emergency plan on nine failing schools fresh on board members’ minds.

City of Bad Neighbors

As part of his fight with the mosque next door, Amherst homeowner Michael Heick gained national attention on May 10 for erecting a baseless and xenophobic sign that proclaims “Bomb making next driveway”. Gotta give him credit for one thing though, unlike most Tea Partiers, his sign was spelled correctly.





By the numbers...

354

Millions of dollars in additional funding awarded to New York by the Department of Transportation on May 9 for rail improvements. New York and twelve other states were the beneficiaries of Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott’s decision to turn down $2.4 billion in federal funding for high speed rail as a stubborn political stance against the Obama administration.

100

Dollars the City of Buffalo will pay residents—in the form of pre-paid bank cards—who voluntarily turn in an assault rifle during the fourth annual Gun BuyBack Program. Details of this year’s drive were released on May 9 and offer payouts of $10 for non-working or antique guns, $50 for rifles and shotguns or $75 for handguns. Last year a total of 859 guns were turned over to police without questions asked.

25

Percentage of black males who graduate from Buffalo Public Schools according to a report by the Schott Foundation, fifth-lowest among districts with more than 10,000 black male students behind Pinellas (21%), Palm Beach (22%) and Duval Counties in Florida (23%) and Charleston County, S.C. (24%). This compares to a 47% graduation rate for black males nationwide and 55% for white males in Buffalo.


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