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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v12n28 (07/11/2013) » Section: The News, Briefly


All is Peaceful Between Byron and the Firefighters - Right?

by Geoff Kelly
When Buffalo’s firefighters voted to accept a new contract, it seemed as if Mayor Byron Brown had removed another hurdle between himself and easy re-election to a third term this fall. There would be no firefighters protesting campaign events this summer, no organized effort to aid Brown’s Democratic primary opponent, Bernie Tolbert.

Peace Bridge (Mis)understanding

by Jack Foran
So what did the vaunted “Peace Bridge Understanding” agreement actually say? Here’s a key statement, on the key issue as to likelihood or not of proper environmental review—including consideration of health effects and other community impacts—relative to the planned expansion of the Peace Bridge plaza across Busti Avenue and into the former Episcopal Church Home property, all for a bigger and better Duty Free Store:

Grisanti Protested at Campaign Events, Local Media Ignores It

by Geoff Kelly
Two weeks ago, on June 27, State Senator Mark Grisanti brought two heavy-hitting colleagues to town: Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Jeffrey Klein, head of the Independent Democratic Caucus, which shares power with Skelos’s Republicans. Klein and Skelos joined Grisanti at the Buffalo Naval and Military Park to talk about new legislation intended to benefit military veterans. In other words, it was a campaign event, an occasion for Grisanti to show that Albany’s power brokers are in his corner. He needs them, because he’s a Republican in a heavily Democratic district, and Democrats are already lining up to take another shot at him in 2014. (Marc Panepinto, we’re looking at you.) And, as happened last year, he is likely to have a Republican primary opponent, too, as he was formerly a Democrat and continues to vote like one most of the time.

Lorigo Cracks Knuckles in Rodriguez's Direction

by Alan Bedenko
Pity poor Sergio Rodriguez, Republican candidate for mayor of Buffalo. The Erie County Republican Committee won’t back him, and the impotent city committee was slow to endorse him. He’s even supposedly getting a challenge for the Republican nod from perennial candidate Matthew Ricchiazzi.

An Appeal to Oak-Michigan Development From Fruit Belt and McCarley Residents

by Buck Quigley
In response to rumors circulating among residents of the Fruit Belt and McCarley Gardens—the HUD-subsidized, moderate-income apartments that are coveted by the University at Buffalo for their 15-acre location adjacent to the publicly-funded expansion of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus—some in the community are asking the owners of that property for answers.



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