Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: Seven Days: News More Than Worth The Cost of This Issue
Next story: I'm Okay, You're Criminally Insane

Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

The Week's Winners & Losers

Old Friends

We have a Carl Paladino sighting. After two months of laying low in the wake of his embarrassing gubernatorial defeat, “Mad as Hell” Carl resurfaced on Jan. 12 at a Buffalo School Board meeting where he threatened to mobilize a public campaign against them unless dramatic reforms were instituted.

Very, Very Away Games

Rumor mill mumblings and a Jan. 15 ESPN report claim that the Sabres are one of six teams that have been approached by the NHL with the opportunity to begin next season in Europe. All that is left is for the team to sign off on an agreement and for the Sabres to regain some measure of relevance.

BFF

Senator Chuck Schumer announced on Jan. 16 that he would buck tradition and cross the aisle, literally, to sit with political rival—and total GOP wingnut—Tom Coburn of Oklahoma during the State of the Union speech. However, we cannot confirm that they will be exchanging friendship bracelets.

Schoolyard Bullies

Schumer (guy was busy this week) was in Buffalo on Jan. 18 to deliver a speech coinciding with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s American visit that railed against protectionist tariffs on rare earth metals. While Schumer likened China to “a bully in the schoolyard,” I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords…

Road Rage

Oft criticized for infuriating and persistent stop-and-go, traffic signals on some of Buffalo’s busier roads are in the process of being synchronized according a Jan. 19 report by WGRZ. Work has already begun on Elmwood and Clinton with Main Street soon to follow. Can I get a hell yes on that?





By the numbers...

1,020

Property tax challenges filed in the City of Buffalo this year, the lowest total in over a decade and well below last year’s roughly 2,100 protests. Since 2005 the average number of annual assesments challenged have totaled 1,899. On Jan. 12 residents were offered a rare one-time opportunity to challenge assessments at local neighborhood sites instead of City Hall, but only nine homeowners attended.

-1

Low temperature recorded on Jan. 17 at the National Weather Service station in Buffalo, the same day officials at National Grid planned a six-hour power outage in parts of North Buffalo. The outage, which began at roughly 5am and continued until 10:30am, was scheduled to take advantage of school closures on Martin Luther King Day and allow workers to perform infrastructure maintenance. The high temp recorded during the outage was a brisk 6 degrees.

3

Number of jurors dismissed on Jan. 18—the first day of proceedings­—in the murder trial against Muzzamil Hassan, who is accused of beheading his wife in 2009. With only one alternate remaining, if two more jurors are dismissed, the trial—which has taken two years to come to court—will be declared a mistrial and the process must begin all over again.


blog comments powered by Disqus