Say it With

Your Lunch Money

A farewell to the Atwater House

This time Pano’s left no room for further delay.

Friday morning on Elmwood Avenue, guys with hard hats encircled the Atwater House with yellow tape and orange cones, in the morning sun. As I drove by, I had no doubt that the bulldozer was on its way.

No more drivel about “the character of Elmwood,” “historic value” or even a dissenting whisper. Not a peep—that a first-on-the-block, 100-plus-year-old, sandstone home could hold a shish kabob to the aluminum- and vinyl-sided wonder that would replace it.

To be fair, Pano is a tenacious businessman. He has to be, to have built up from his original shack across from Bullfeathers. He moved and removed two houses on Elmwood for his current establishment. But I guess that’s too small now. Pano’s top concern is always his bottom line…and thus, beauty is the first casualty of business—unless beauty turns a profit.

Classy contradiction: Pano has some cultural awareness. Like bottles of “Pano’s water” sold as an in-house promotion. It features clip art styled to look like the windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright [pictured left].

Drama: Now an architectural hatchet man, Pano’s hands will forever be encrusted with the red dust of the Atwater house. So what? So what. He’s perfectly within his legal right. The courts say so, and the Board of Historic Preservation, sleeping in the corner, says so. He’s free to ignore the cries of his community and the thousands who signed petitions, proposed alternate solutions and blah, blah, blah. What’s important now, and always, is his bottom line.

Why I hate Buffalo: It’s not the corrupt politics, nor the sale of downtown for some casino. Not because we have a “Cadillac” fire company and a “Yugo” school system. Not because we have “bridge lock.” Not because unions won’t flex in a fluctuating economy. Not because Buffalo’s the only city east of California with a sunset on the water—but no waterfront. And not because I can’t rescue a historical beauty in my own backyard from a “bottom line” cheeseball. I do hate all that…but why I really hate Buffalo is because I love it, and can’t see ever leaving. So I’m stuck with having to try to protect it, if I can.

The Atwater House is gone. It’s too late so save it, but it’s not too late to make Pano’s expansion unnecessary. To show other, potential hatchet men, with an eye on their bottom lines, that we have a powerful tool. A talent really, that requires no petitions, courts or further discussion. Just grab your disaffected friends and go to lunch.

Say it with your lunch money—and go the extra half-mile. Go to the other great restaurants nearby. On Hertel, on Elmwood, on Delaware too, in Allentown, downtown and o’er by the zoo. You’ll be amazed at what else there is, out there to eat, so take them your business.

Break the Pano’s habit—I did it three years ago when all of this a started. It wasn’t that hard, and you can do it too. I’d like to say I don’t miss the restaurant at all, just like Pano’s thinks we won’t miss the Atwater. But it’s too close to my Buffalo heart and my Buffalo house not to see.

What I’ve learned is this: You might not win if you fight the cheeseballs. But if you don’t fight the cheeseballs, what you get isn’t something better.

Kent Bostock

Buffalo

A Barbaric Act

Reflections on Saddam’s death

The hanging of Saddam Hussein showed how little man has advanced since he climbed down a tree, stood on two legs and left his mark on the world.

Even when space was abundant, he made war against his brother. His history, which extends over millions of years, brought death wherever he trod. Over time, he evolved into “modern man.” But could not curb his lust for blood.

Can he change before destroying himself? I hunted with primitive tribesmen in remote tiger jungles. They worshipped a stone or a tree. From them to sophisticated worshippers of the Torah, Bible and Koran, religion hasn’t changed man one bit. But change he must.

Or die before his time is up.

Val seeks answers to man’s irrational ways. She was a young girl of 13 growing up in a quiet Polish town. The Russians marched in and forcibly took their home and family farm (February 8, 1940, 4am). Father, mother and daughter were taken in cattle trucks to a forced labor camp in Siberia, with a few personal items packed in a box.

Two million Poles labored in desolation. Some 700,000 died. A forgotten chapter in man’s inhumanity to man, woman and child.

Val subscribes to science and history magazines. In National Geographic, January 2006, page 29, “Genocide Unearthed: Century of Death” is featured. It’s a grim account. Mass murder is a recurring tool used against political, religious and ethnic groups.

In a mind-boggling list of genocides, ranging from 30,000,000 in three episodes (China), down to 10,000 in one episode (Yugoslavia), the number for Iraq is 240,000 in two episodes (culprits not named).

Saddam Hussein, arguably the best Iraqi leader in recent times, was brutal in bringing order to an impoverished people living in a land divided by religion. England had been a major player in Iraq since World War I, when King Faisal I fought alongside Lawrence of Arabia against the Turks, who were allied to Germany. Saddam was probably impressed by England’s accomplishments.

That same England was brutal in restoring order in India, after the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny of 1857. The last surviving Mogul emperor, Bahadur Shah II, was exiled from his palace in Delhi to Burma, where he later died. A young British captain lined his nine sons against the palace gates, and executed each one with a bullet through the brain.

When word reached Bahadur Shah, he lamented: “All that I loved is gone, like a garden robbed of its beauty by Autumn.”

India broke free of England in 1947. Only to lapse into a bitter war between Hindu and Muslim, ending in Partition. They had served side-by-side with valor, as they did in my regiment, the 10th Baluch, British-Indian Army. The Baluch Regiment’s battle honors were earned in two world wars. But now, Pakistan and India are prepared to fight one another—with nuclear bombs.

In time, who’s to say that the Iraqis would not have taken the same route, conforming with religious and ethnic differences, after learning from nearby India? To improve the lot of his people—and like colonial rulers, to feather his own nest as well—Saddam Hussein nationalized Iraq’s oil and lowered the price to beat the competition. This created powerful enemies—and he paid for it with his life.

With Dan Rather’s help, Saddam Hussein had tried to stop the war by debating Bush on television. Bush spurned him, but found time to meet more than once with Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel.

Saddam supported the Palestinians. He erred in paying $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers. Bush could have stopped that without going to war. UN sanctions over 12 years had made life very difficult for Iraqis. Israel violated more UN edicts than Iraq had.

In May 1948, a dangerous post-war world gave birth to Israel. The USSR was courting the Arabs—as Germany had done before World War II. The Palestinians were forgotten, while we lavished arms and money on our Middle Eastern ally. And the Arabs remember.

It’s time we all live in peace. Or die in war.

Terence S. Underwood

Tonawanda

GUNS OR BUTTER

Domestic economics may end the war

Thank you for yet another excellent article noting the differences and parallels between the US invasion/war in Vietnam as compared to the same in Iraq (“Who’ll Stop the War?” Artvoice v6n5). While recognizing the vast array of issues relative to this topic and the limited space available in print, I do feel a very salient point warrants attention as it was/is relevant both then and now with regards to the final outcome of these wars. As you are aware, the Johnson administration was simultaneously attempting to fight two wars, one in Vietnam and one domestically known as “the war on poverty,” thereby giving rise to the ultimate societal decision between “guns and butter.” History bears testament to the results of these efforts (i.e. you can’t have both).

Opposition to the Vietnam war was not solely based on the direct loss of human lives; it was also based on opposition to the long-term losses to the quality of citizens’ lives through the slashing of domestic programs. As we fast-forward to the present, the funding of the US war in Iraq presents (yet again) the rubric of “guns or butter,” as evidenced by the Bush budget that slashes domestic spending to finance said war. In view of said budget, a disproportionate burden of the war’s costs will be saddled by those least able to afford it through cuts in Medicaid, tuition aid and similar programs.

Which brings to mind another Vietnam-era paradox: “We had to destroy the village to save it,” updated to “In order to preserve the American society (by waging war), we have to destroy it (by slashing domestic programs to fund the war).” Of course, the upside of this is, with budget cuts to those in need, fewer options and services are available to them and they will be increasingly enlisting in the armed forces…Now what year is this?

Bryan Fowler

Buffalo

PRESERVING HISPANIC

HERITAGE

Hispanics United opposes Albright-Knox art sale

The members of the Board of Directors of Hispanics United of Buffalo present at our February monthly meeting yesterday [February 6] would like to express their disapproval of the Albright-Knox’s plan to auction off its pre-Colombian art holdings.

We consider these pieces part of our heritage and want them in Buffalo. We understand we would be losing vessels from Peru, a stone head from either Guatemala or El Salvador, an eighth-century Mayan vase, an Aztec stone idol from about 1450 and small Mexican statues dating from 300-900 AD. There is little evidence of our remote past in our area. Many of us may not have an opportunity to see these examples of our glorious past elsewhere.

We ask the Albright-Knox to reconsider.

Members of the Board

Edwin Martinez, President

Hispanics United of Buffalo

the kids in charge

Name-calling between superintendent, board and teachers union is shameful

Some of my friends and relatives are beginning to look at me with pitiful expressions on their faces when I talk to them about being a teacher in the Buffalo Public School System…not because of the sometimes difficult children I greatly enjoy working with, but because of the rather abusive and embarrassing comments and name-calling that are being made by the very people who are supposed to be role models and leaders in the community.

During my 20 years as a BPS teacher, I have also served as a BTF union representative in some capacity for most of those years. I have never known Phil Rumore to lie, misrepresent any information, exaggerate or call anyone a name. He rarely states his own personal opinions. I have never known him to “run from any issues.” He is in the position of a union leader and a negotiator. He does his job well. That’s why we keep re-electing him.

That being said, there are some inaccurate statements that were made, both in the Buffalo News (Thursday, January 25) and also on Channel 4 News. One statement was by Phil Rumore. He stated that 150 delegates voted unanimously not to accept the 2007-2008 school calendar the board had presented. That statement was somewhat inaccurate, because it was not only 150 delegates. Building delegates took tallies at their schools. The vast majority didn’t want to accept it. There was no offer to compensate us, in any way, for working two weeks longer. Along with police and firefighters, we have not have a raise in several years. We are in the process of trying to negotiate a new contract. It makes little sense to negotiate little sections of a contract at a time, rather than as a whole. I don’t know of many businesses or institutions that negoiate bits and pieces of a contract at separate times.

A second inaccurate statement was giving the impression that it is Phil Rumore who makes all the decisions for teachers, when actually it is just the opposite. It is the teachers who make the decisions, by democratic vote, following formal meeting procedures. It is difficult to understand why Dr. Williams or any of the board members would be calling Phil Rumore to complain since he has no authority to make any changes to our legal contract without voting permission of the full union. The phone calls and comments to Phil Rumore are not only abusive and harassing, but also a waste of time, because these are not his personal decisions.

A third inaccurate statement was made by Mr. Coyle, again, for the same reasons just stated. Phil Rumore is not the “wall” the board is hitting. The “wall” is the Buffalo teachers—and walls usually have two sides, don’t they? There are many very distinct and valid reasons for teachers putting up that “wall.”

Next, Mr. Van Every’s statement was vague and ambiguous about what exactly may or may not have been stated as “a recommendation.” Mr. Van Every gives the impression that even if a recommendation were made, that teachers with bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees (and hired by the board) cannot make their own decisions.We vote on what we believe is the best policy for the long run, affecting our lives and those who follow us for many years to come.

I’m certainly glad Dr. Williams says he is concerned about the children and the sad state the district has been in for many years. However, it’s difficult to get the end result you want if you take the wrong path to get there. Breaking legal and binding contracts, costing the district huge amounts in legal fees, is certainly not the best route.

Even the healthcare issue has been greatly misconstrued. I have not heard one teacher say they would refuse a single health carrier. We asked for simple clarifiaction on some health topics, which we never received. Our legal and binding contract was broken by some of the very people who agreed to it several years earlier, instead of giving us the clarification we asked for and waiting for a positive vote—which, by the way, more than likely would have been in favor of a single carrier, saving the district and all of us alot of money!

Lastly, an inaccurate statement was made by Florence Johnson. Buffalo Public Schools have started late before for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Starting one week later actually makes little to no difference at all. Perhaps Ms. Johnson was not employed by the Board at that time. I think it may be an assumption on her part that we will be “the laughing stock of Erie County” because of something so minor and inconsequential. If people are laughing, as I’m sure some are, I doubt very much if it’s about that.

Maggie Wahl, BPS teacher

Buffalo