GO EAST, ROBBIE GOO

After reading how the Goos got dissed by the Elmwood highbrows (“Letters to AV,” Artvoice v6n19), I, as a lowly denizen of the East Side, would like to invite the Goo Goo Dolls to co-headline this year’s Unity Day which is held at Martin Luther King Park. The plusses are that there are less politics and you “progressives” never hold or attempt to hold anything in Martin Luther King park or try to talk to some of us progressives over here to make something positive happen for everybody. Unity Day is in September and two years ago it was headlined by Chris Brown. You can only co-headline though because if we gonna come we gotta be able to buy the persons record at Doris Records and hear them on WBLK.

The highbrows dissed the Goos! BOO TO THE SNOBS! LONG LIVE RICK JAMES! LONG LIVE LANCE DIAMOND! LONG LIVE SPYRO GYRA! LONG LIVE DA GOOS! HOLLABACK!

George Winfield

Buffalo

THE PUBLIC DOLLAR

Well, what’s new (“Padding the Relief Rolls,” Artvoice v6n21)—Paladino was screaming bloody murder when Carl Montante was trying for the $11 million Adelphia dollars to fix up/tear down the old AM&A’s. Paladino did not think public money was justfied here. Was this because he was not on the receiving end? How about paying $1 for the Berger building after Buffalo/Jimmy Griffin paid $1.2 million for it. There are lots of examples that really should piss off everyone living in this area, but deals “get done” with the collusion of the political class and businessmen with loyalty only to themselves. After all “the bidness of bidness is bidness.” We need the muckrakers back—the Upton Sinclairs, the Ida Tarbells. Something, someone to protect the public from its own lethargy. (Though I think the pols count on this to get elected and “govern.”) Keep up the good work. The corruptness in this area is pervasive. Lived here 50 years and find it hard to move in spite of the BS.

Anton Simon

Buffalo

WASTING WATER

I went out to run some errands this afternoon (1pm), and I happened on a site that absolutely disgusted me.

As most people already know, this May has been one of the driest in recorded history for the city of Buffalo and the surrounding suburbs. As a result, many of the lawns, gardens and green spaces are getting quite brown and require watering by people, as the heavens have yet to provide.

However, I cannot believe in this day and age how ignorant people can be when it comes to the appropriate times to water their lawns. So, while running my errands, I saw at least four to six people watering their lawns at 1pm in the afternoon.

If you don’t understand what is troubling about this issue, let me explain. Unless you water your lawn sometime near sunset, you are essentially just wasting your time and, more importantly, a precious resource: water. You might as well just stick the hose directly into a drain.

All of the watering you do throughout the day is just going to evaporate within hours of the soaking and provide little to no benefit for your grass, plants and trees. If you don’t believe me, simply go check your lawn right now, if it’s been more than an hour since watering, and see how moist the soil will be.

I understand that nothing short of a government order will prevent these people from watering their lawns, as a healthy lawn has become somewhat of a status symbol. Additionally, if the past decade has shown Americans anything, it’s that people are no longer willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Perhaps it’s enough to shed light on the fact that this will put a dent in their pocketbooks with no benefit to their lawn.

Common sense is in order, and we should use this resource wisely, instead of simply throwing caution to the wind. Although we do live next to the largest repository of fresh water in the Northern Hemisphere, and possibly the world, this does not mean that it will be around forever if we continue to waste it in such a manner as this. After all, we don’t get a prescription filled, then walk out the door of the pharmacy and throw those same prescriptions in the garbage. We don’t go to a gas station, pay for a fill-up, then drive away without putting any in our tank. We most certainly do not go out to buy groceries, pay the cashier, then leave the bags at the store. We should not be watering our lawns anytime during the day, as all we will accomplish is adding more moisture to the air when the water evaporates within an hour of applying it.

Charles A. Redman

Depew