Same old City Hall for Peace Bridge blight.

Saint Mary's Church on the corner of Vermont and Niagara allowed to fall into decay just like homes owned by other West Side slum property owners and the Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority.

D'Youville College allowed to buy up homes on Fargo Avenue and destroy them.

The formula:

1. Buy home(s)

2. Allow them to fall apart

3. City looks the other way. No City Enforcement of Housing Regulation for institutional and rental property owners in Buffalo

4. Properties demolished

5. More parking lots, more pollution, more blight, more drug dealers and slum lords.

6. No democratic self determination for residents.

7. Only self determination for the Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority, D'Youville College, slum lords, and corporations.

Operative word here is authority. Mindless zombie organization enemy of the people. Death to Authorities.

The question of whether the city has authority over the PBA is an interesting one and should be resolved. I'd try to find out from the attorney-general's office, if I was on the story. I'd also ask someone in the Canadian transport minister's office. I also think a more thorough understanding of the "international compact" that exists is appropriate.

Another pathetic demonstration by city officials who 'gaslight' well-intentioned citizens by passing off their decision making responsibility to some other party.

It's an age old game that politicians in WNY are addicted to; Give the responsibility of what you were elected to do to somebody else. Ignore the masses, dismiss their concerns, silence the protests, stonewall the process, withhold vital information, cut deals behind close doors, lie about the truth, and protect personal and political agendas at any cost. In the end it's always about the vote.

Last Week Rod Watson Buff News wrote a scathing piece about County Executive Chris Collins. Collins believes his "litmus test is whether a decision makes this a world-class community attractive to residents, businesses and tourists." At least Collins has the courage to own his mandates right or wrong, good or bad.

That's more than I can say about Mayor Brown, Assemblyman Hoyt,or Senator Schumer. They can't seem to get past the bait and switch shell game over who has the political will to stop the never-ending nightmare in Prospect Hill Columbus Park.

Other than Czar Brian Higgins, whose political-based agenda is nothing less than the 'Higgin's Mandate' - fall in line or else, we the people remain leader-less.

The city's decision to announce "our hands are tied" excuse over the slums created by the PBA on Busti avenue is dissapointing but not surprising.

As Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote March 29 in the New York Times, "Reinventing America's Cities; The Time is Now," Ouroussoff selected Buffalo because it presents the best opportunity for a test case for a new approach to failing cities. "Perhaps the most intriguing test case for reimagining our failing cities is in Buffalo, where the federal government is pressing ahead with a plan to expand its border crossing facility. Yet rather than reverse that trend, the government now seems determined to accelerate it."

You'd think in a heated mayoral race next November, His Honor would embrace this type of media exposure and sieze the opportunity to emerge as a visionary which would knock every other candidate out of the box.

So much for political will.

By waiving the flag for demolitions to begin on Busti Avenue the city (2nd floor City Hall) has gone beyond the scope of irresponsible governance; it is skating on the fringes of sheer negligence.

Demolition of an entire block of homes inside of a stable urban historic community has not happened since the Scajacuada Expressway and RT.#33 irrevocably destroyed Delaware Park and Humboldt Parkway.

Watching a caravan of earth moving equipment, bulldozers, dump trucks and back holes pulling up in your back yard can send only one message; Be Very Afraid; Your Next. It will acheive the utlitmate vicious purpose; that is to strike sickening fear and panic in those of us who have remained opposed to the peace bridge expansion.

That is what the city is allowing a public authority to do. Without any legal intervention or court ruling, the city and the PBA are circumventing the legal processes that are mandated by federal and state laws.

They are steam rolling over the Common Council, the city Preservation Board, Zoning Board, permits and inspections, Department of Homeland Security, Re-consideration for Shared Border Management, Congressman Louise Slaughter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, State Senator Gillabran, DEC, EPA, NEPA, FHWA, NYSDOT, Historic Preservation Act, ACHP, National Trust,the Preservation League of NYS, SHPPO, Department of Homeland Security.

The community spoke out when they felt the Thruway Authority and Power Authority were getting too bloated. And no property was in danger of being seized!

Here's the good news; in the end it's always the little guy who stays the course because that is where the true passion for "home" is intrinsically buried. The city and the PBA believe they have succeeded in creating a public bureacracy that has become impossible for the people to fight back.

The PBA is proud of the engineered blight they have been crafting with the city's blessing for the past 15 years. As they have said in writing, they are delighted to wipe out the scruffy neighborhoods for city officials in the name of urban renewal.

Castigating the 'obstructionists' for standing in the way of progress has been the easy part. Burying the environmental and health hazards that are making this community sick and even killing people has not. That is what makes this worth the fight. Because we are right and they are wrong.

We are a sick community and the PBA knows what is making us sick. That's why the health studies and the environmental impact studies remain incomplete. They fail the environmental litmus test.

Turning this community into a 'Love Canal on Wheels' is what Hooker Chemicals did to Love Canal 35 years ago. Is Buffalo willing to manufacture a new environmental disaster? Why would Brian Higgins advocate for a project without proof that it is environmentally sound?

Each one of us should feel challenged by long-entrenched ideas tied to powerful interests through politics and money. It's not intimidating but empowering. Showing up by standing up is how we lead by example. This is what our children see and not what's printed in the Buff News or the 6 o'clock news.

I am laying down a challenge to every community 'obstructionist', 'whacky' preservationist, 'tree hugger' and environmentalist out there: Protect what we have now because we don't own it. We've borrowed it from future generations.

The West Side of Buffalo has the youngest population in the entire city. 25,000 children under the age of 18. Every brick that falls on Busti avenue belongs to them. Every piece of history the peace bridge destroys belongs to them. Every blade of grass that is touched has the name of a child on it. Every breathe of air a child takes today and tomorrow is their right as a human being.

Twenty five thousand children are the reason why Mayor Brown and Congressman Higgins need to find the poliltical will to stop this PBA insanity and allow the west side to grow and flourish.

the city can make it very difficult for the pba to demolish if it wants to. the mayor has the bully pulpit and can use it. they can make noise, get other politicans there, take legal action regardless of jurisdiction, hold things up, etc. that's what Tim will do, and he very often gets results. sounds like an excuse.

Progress In Buffalo

erase neighborhoods
help trucks
on their way
out of town
thanks Mayor Brown

studies show
when completed
what kids with asthma know
how pollution feels inside
lungs turned upside down
thanks Mayor Brown

i heard a dolly sinnot say
she'd give tielman 100 grand
if she could find a way
coulda woulda shoulda
that's my home town
ah well we'll just have to frown
thanks Mayor Brown

It is just a little scarey that the Law Department of the City of Buffalo believes the PBA can buy any property it wants, neglect it for 13 years and then demolish that property at will , without the need for permits from the City. What exactly are the requirements to get into this Law Department and who's interests are they protecting. Just because the PBA pretends it has some special international entity status does not make it so. I know that and I am not even in the Law Dept.

Our leaders should be outraged at the disrespect shown them by Ron Rienas, a Canadian citizen, who tells them what laws the PBA will and will not obey. Speaking of "Leaders",Brian Higgins has recently decided his job is to protect the right of the people from Toronto and Southern Ontario to get to the Galleria Mall as quickly as possible. This is of course why Buffalo is, and will continue to be, an economic boom town. If this was going on in South Buffalo he might feel differently about the demolitions. But this is happening on the West Side where nobody speaks English and everything is broken anyway.

And the Mayor remains as commited to be uncommited as ever. This would all stop if he would just stand up and say that this is the wrong place for a transportation project of this magnitude, period.

In the Divine Comedy there is a ring of hell for those who never took a stand for something. Those who would never make a commitment to a cause. The symbolic retribution for these souls was to chase a standard or flag for eternity, naked, with grease under their feet, while being stung by bees....food for thought Mayor Brown.

Tony, your remark, "But this is happening on the West Side where nobody speaks English and everything is broken anyway" is as offensive to this resident as is Mayor Brown's aloof facilitation of the PBA distress.

A friend of mine tells me that the 2nd Peace Bridge will never be built. Makes perfect sense really - in a volatile energy market and with a carbon emission market in our future no investor will fund infrastructure to provide a crossing for carbon producing trucks. Buy stocks in railroads now, they pollute one tenth as much as trucks do.

It's too bad that Mayor Brown, Sam Hoyt and Brian Higgins can not or will not accept this and fund integrated transport infrastructure across the Niagara creating thousands of permanent jobs. After classic planning blunders like UB and Rich Stadium they best they can do is sign on to another blunder.

Buffalo does not need trucks and, in case Brown, Hoyt and Higgins are too obsessed with their careers to notice, I'd like to point out that the trucks do not stop in Buffalo. How different it would be if we had an integrated transport crossing mixing rail, road and air at Niagara Falls airport.

So the plaza expansion is just a spiteful, wasteful exercise by another one of New York's arrogant authorities only this one is different: it's arrogant in two countries!

What would happen if we just told everybody this?

I'm fairly certain that Tony's comment about the West Side was fecitious, much like the tone of the rest of his comment. Unfortunately, those of us who reside in this neighborhood have had to face stigmas and discrimination not only from other city residents, but from local politicians, and now international "authorities". I understood this discrimintaion to be the reference Tony was making in his comment, as he is one of the members of the Niagara Gatweay Columbus Park Association and a resident of this neighborhood.

I think it's safe to conclude that the Lower West Side is largely disregrded and neglected in comparison to other city neighborhoods. I can't imagine this debacle occurring in the Delaware District or other parts of the city. As residents of the Lower West Side, we can't help but feel that our neighborhood is not taken as seriously as others. The perpetual blind eye turned to this neighborhood by the City of Buffalo demonstrates the marginalization of this neighborhood and its residents. What makes this neighborhood less in need of your immediate attention than the Elmwood Strip or the Delaware District, Mayor Brown? Is it somehow less worthy of your attention and activism than other areas of the city?

It's disgraceful that these buildings were purchased 15 years ago and intentionally left to deteriorate. They are now epicenters for drug deals and prostitution. Which brings up another question: Mayor Brown, have you made any efforts to clean up this area? Have you increased police presence in this section of Busti Ave? Are you doing your part to ensure that while the unfortunate residents of this neighborhood are forced to live among the filth and slum of these eyesores - at least they might feel a bit safer while doing so? I haven't seen any patrol cars there. I've seen the city yet again turn a blind eye to yet another aspect of this terrible mess. Oh, by the way, Mayor, perhaps you should ask your Legal Department if your precincts do indeed have jurisdiction to patrol that area and arrest degenerate drug dealers, crackheads, and prostitutes. The boundaries of your jurisdiction seem to be a bit blurred these days ...

One final thought - has everyone forgotten what Chippewa St and Allentown were like prior to the 1980s and 90s? Maybe rather than turn those neighborhoods around, we should have continued to neglect them and turn a blind eye to their deterioration the way we do the Lower West Side. Remember the film "Field of Dreams"? "If you build it, they will come". It may be a bit cliche, but it proved true for both Allen and Chippewa. Build up this area, and cafe, restaurant, and shop owners will come. It's basic urban development - we already have multiple sucess stories right in our own backyards. Think Hertel Ave in the past 10 years alone.