We received more than 2,000 attempts at ballots in or Best of Buffalo poll this year. Of those, more than 1,100 ballots were deemed valid and tallied. The finalists in each category are enumerated on the following pages—listed in no particular order—and the winners will be announced at our annual Best of Buffalo Bash on Monday, April 30 at Town Ballroom.

That party is free and open to everyone who cares to come, with live entertainment and food provided by our many nominees. A good time will be had by all, guaranteed, and the crowd will be studded with city’s brightest stars.

Why only 1,100 or so valid ballots? Well, we toss some of them. Ballots that have fewer than 30 categories filled out are deemed invalid. We also toss ballots that we suspect come from ballot stuffers. We can usually tell by tracing IP and email addresses and comparing votes. For snail mail ballots, similar handwriting and numerous entries from the same return address are the obvious tipoffs. Occasionally we get a dozen ballots in one envelope, all filled out in the same handwriting, with the same pick for worst local politician. It’s easier to identify fraud than one might think.

However, it should be said that ballot stuffing was far less common this year than in any previous Best of Buffalo survey. Though one member of Buffalo’s Common Council voted for himself for best local politician multiple times—he didn’t place among the finalists and will remain nameless—most of the voting seemed clean. As a result, we’ve decided not to name a winner in the worst ballot stuffer category this year. Plenty of shops, bands and individuals seem to have mounted campaigns to drum up votes on their behalf—perfectly legitimate—but no one seemed to have crossed the line into outright perfidy. At least not on such a grand scale as to merit public shaming.

We tossed out votes for national chains and personalities—this is Best of Buffalo, not best of anywhere—but not at the expense of locals who have gone big. A vote for Rochester-based Wegmans stays, for example, as do votes for Ani DiFranco or the Goo Goo Dolls. (Tim Horton’s was the toughest call. The Ontario-based chain fared pretty well in the best coffee category, but, despite the nearly local connections, we decided it didn’t count. In any case, it wouldn’t have won first place.)

Votes that were nonspecific or too difficult to unravel (seriously, in “best facade”: “that place across from where I got a parking ticket”—I mean, come on) also were not tallied. We do our best to arrive at an accurate reading of our readers’ minds, but we can’t do much with “don’t remember,” “what’s his name” or “semdf gherkiin.”

This year, for the first time, we asked our respondents to answer essay questions—best local scandal, biggest Buffalo pipedream, stupidest thing you did all year, etc. These made for good reading, leavening the sometimes tedious work of decoding and tallying votes. Here for, your reading pleasure, are some samples:

What’s the stupidest thing you did all year?

“Revealed body parts at bars.”

“Went swimming in a creek in the middle of February.”

“Got married.”

“Moved back to Buffalo!”

“Moved away.”

“It involved a bottle of jamo, a rubber glove, a package of peeps and a shopping cart.”

“Nothing. But in 2007 the stupidest thing I’ve done so far is fill out an online ballot.”

“…got drunk, fell in a ditch (several times), tried to sing Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” played with fireworks, kept eating cherries marinated in Crown Royal—all in the same night.”

Best Local Scandal:

Lots of winners here: Bucky Phillips, George Holt, the proposed downtown casino, teachers sleeping with students, Buffalo’s school superintendent clashing with teachers and school board members…

But the number one vote-getter was US Congressman Tom Reynolds’ handling of the Mark Foley scandal, as described by this respondent:

“Tom Reynolds bringing in a dozen children in to the press conference where he was going to talk about a sex scandal. I mean what was up with that? Awful.”

Most Over-reported and Under-reported Stories:

The Bucky Phillips saga just edged out the October storm in the over-reported category. As ever, the proposed casino downtown placed high as both under-reported and over-reported. (And, as always, we’ll take that as a sign that we should keep writing about it.) The Albright-Knox deaccession also placed in both categories. Our readers think Bass Pro gets too much coverage.

The rise of dangerous crime in the city placed high in the under-reported voting, as did the city’s high school dropout rate and poverty and housing issues in the city’s most neglected neighborhoods. So did variations on “any good news in the city.”

About a dozen voters agreed with this voter on the most under-reported story: “Total erosion of democratic process with control boards. Most people just think it’s about taxes and spending.”

Biggest Buffalo Pipedream:

A familiar litany with which to nurture one’s cynicism: Bass Pro, waterfront development, the hotel on Elmwood and Forest, the Peace Bridge and its plaza, the casino, the removal of the Skyway, opening Main Street to car traffic. Many doubt that Bashar Issa will really renovate the Statler and build a new skyscraper downtown.

WHLD-1270, the Voice of Reason. A host of other good-intentioned projects that have failed or never materialized.

Sigh.

Most Discouraging Sign That Nothing Ever Changes:

“No progress on the Bass Pro deal, no new bridge, no casino, complaints about a new business tower next to City Hall, no hotel on Elmwood, etc., etc., etc.”

“Again putting all of Buffalo’s hopes on one event, then that house of cards falling when that one event doesn’t go as planned. See: Waterfront. There are other places to develop, you know?”

“The fact that they want to build a coal plant when we have an abundance of wind!”

“Buffalo Schools never seeming to improve.”

“Re-electing the same politicians over and over again.”

“Just go up and down East Ferry, East and West Utica, Bailey and the East Side and look at all the vacant and decrepit residences that should be bulldozed.”

“The fact that you asked that question and nobody doubted it for a second.”

Most Promising Sign That Buffalo Is Turning Around:

Writes one voter:

“Downtown is recovering all by itself. Buffalo is beginning to get projects without offering any incentives whatsoever. The Statler Towers are being renovated with no tax breaks…Labatt USA just moved here without asking anything. Vacant Class A office space downtown is nonexistent.

“The Main Place Mall food court is actually getting more restaurants. The Blue Cross building is moving into downtown—and the building they are vacating to do it already has a new owner and purpose. The waterfront is moving forward with no new taxpayer dollars. The Aud is ready to be knocked down, and more importantly, so is the Donovan building. The population of downtown Buffalo actually went up in 2006—and even if its less than 100 people, what a barrier to break to finally not be spiraling further and further down!

“How can you not be excited?”

A cautious amen to that.

—geoff kelly