Archive for September, 2007

Canadian navy reports a "catastrophic volcanic eruption" on Red Sea island off Yemen

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

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Canadian navy reports a “catastrophic volcanic eruption” on Red Sea island off Yemen
International Herald Tribune

TORONTO: A volcano has erupted on a tiny island off the coast of Yemen, spewing lava and ash hundreds of feet into the air, a Canadian naval vessel near the island in the Red Sea reported. The Yemeni government asked NATO to assist in searching for survivors.

Ken Allan, a Navy Public Affairs with the Canadian Armed Forces, said a NATO fleet just outside the territorial waters of the island Jazirt Atta-Ir reported seeing a “catastrophic volcanic eruption” at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) Sunday. The 2-mile-long (3-kilometer-long) island is about 70 miles (115 kilometers) off the coast of Yemen.
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Economic wisdom from the Grand Island ~ Tolls

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

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All to often and becoming more and more frequent “common sense” can no longer be found in politics and or unelected, unaccountable authorities. Common sense is something we all have, most lose it once elected, once they work in a patronage job, get appointed to a political position or become a huge state authority like the thruway authority.

Just a little bit of economic common sense is needed to realize that Tolls across NY State and especially here on Grand Island are a drag on our economy. We took the biggest hit and a devastating blow in the 90’s with the Seneca Nation Lawsuit. Businesses closed up shop, people moved, the housing industry virtually became non existent. I remember one year only one house was built on the island. Banks were leery of even giving mortgages. No one knew what the out come of the lawsuit would bring us.

That bad piece of history is over but the economic impact still lingers here, just drive down the Blvd and look at the empty storefronts mainly in the once thriving Plaza. What drags us down still is the tolls and the functionally obsolete Grand Island Bridges. Those bridges were never built to handle 71,000 at the south bridges and 52,000 at the north bridges.

For years I have proposed, remove the tolls, completing the La Salle Expressway and then building two bridges between the two south bridges, bringing down the existing two and then expanding them once lowered to a smaller arch type bridge. The excessive height is not needed but a causeway will never work as Hoyt once suggested to me.

It seems we always have to get to a point of crisis mode here in New York before anything gets done, there is no foresight and no common sense. All we are fed is political expedience. Throw out the politics and start representing the people, work to lower the costs of governance so we can lower taxes everywhere to hopefully keep people from leaving and get people to return home.

The backwards thinking must stop.

Niagara Gazette – LUCINSKI: Economic wisdom from the Island

By Dick Lucinski/lucinskid@gnnewspaper.com
Niagara Gazette
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Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul on Illegals Licenses

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

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While reps from across the state are voicing concerns over the licensing of illegals the political appointee county clerk Kathy Hochul makes a real genmeric statement. See this is one of the major problems with so many political appointees, they are afraid to come out with a firm position. They have to be supportive of their boss yet, they can and do compromise their own positions and really can interfere with the proper operation of their departments.

It’s not simply about security there is a host of other reasons why this is wrong. One word says it all, Illegal..

Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, appointed to her job by Spitzer, said she is an agent of the state when it comes to the motor vehicle law and will carry out Spitzer’s policy.

“I have no ability to pick and choose the laws we follow,” she said. Hochul said she has voiced some “security concerns” about the Spitzer decision to the state Department of Motor Vehicles

Spitzer’s driver’s license policy for illegal immigrants draws wide criticism
Critics site concerns of national security
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CHEERS & JEERS: THRUWAY TOLLS

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

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I need not say any more, this paragraph says it all.

hello, Grand Island residents. All for tolls that were supposed to disappear way back in 1996. Fortunately this won’t happen without a big fight, but its just another example of how ridiculous this state, and its many legally separate authorities, really are.

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Spitzer needs to Chill Out

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

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This really makes me wonder if this guy will be able to continue to govern effectively. It’s his was or the highway and that is not leadership and or working together for the benefit of the people.

Spitzer is wrong on licensing illegals plain and simple. Who is he to judge another elected officials character? One term governor, he is to dam power power hungry and a control freak.

“He is wrong at every level – dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong,” Spitzer huffed.

MELLOW OUT, ELIOT

September 28, 2007 — Anyone who still wonders whether Gov. Spitzer has the capacity to send the State Police after a despised po litical enemy need only witness the rhetorical tap dance he did yesterday on a putative political friend – to wit, Mayor Bloomberg.
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Erie County Ordered to Reduce Jail Population

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

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So what is the next step? Do we need to build another jail? Expand the existing jail? Seems to me the expense of paying other jails to house inmates is prohibitive.

wbfo NewsRoom
Erie County Ordered to Reduce Jail Population

The New York State Commission of Corrections has ordered Erie County to immediately reduce its inmate population at the correctional facility in Alden.

According to the state commission, the county is packing in about 70 inmates too many on any given day at the correctional facility. The directive calls for reducing the jail’s total population to under 910.
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Bad Ideas Do Not Make Good Government

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Bad Ideas Do Not Make Good Government

Statement from New York State

Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long

“The Governor’s bizarre plan to hand out driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants is not just crazy; it’s utterly insane. The Governor’s carrying the water for the radical far-left agenda of the Working Families Party and that’s wrong for New York and our safety and security. This is a recipe for disaster, plain and simple.”

Lack of County Representation on New Hospital Board

Friday, September 28th, 2007

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This is simply part of the dysfunction here in the county. We give huge subsidies to ECMC so we need to have representation at the table. Closed door meetings are a major problem here especially in the legislature.

Who knows what goes on behind closed door meetings? This is where everything is done that ends up screwing the taxpayers. We were supposed to get more openness and transparency with this new government elected to represent us in the county. Where is it?

Poloncarz is absolutely right trying to bring this to the forefront. Thanks Mark.

wbfo NewsRoom
Poloncarz Concerned about Lack of County Representation on New Hospital Board

BUFFALO, NY (2007-09-26) A top county official says Erie County should have a seat at the table in the discussions that will lead to a merger between Kaleida Health and the Erie County Medical Center.

County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz says the county provides a multi-million dollar subsidy to ECMC. But he says the 14-member board that was created to oversee the merged entity has no official county representation.

Poloncarz says at the very least a county official should be allowed in the room to monitor discussions. Last week’s first meeting of the governing board was closed to the public and media.

Poloncarz says he hopes there will be no further financial obligation for the county once the governing body determines what the combined entity will look like.

Rochester 49, Buffalo 47 in Business rankings

Friday, September 28th, 2007

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I have been saying for years, we are the bottom of the good lists and the top of the bad lists. Weather is not the reason, if it was Minneapolis would not be ranked No. 1….

We are still living in the 50’s as with the power structure in the political and union sense. That is most likely the biggest reason we continue to stay at the bottom. The costs of doing business, utilities, insurance, compensation, restrictions government slaps businesses with etc, etc, etc…..

Big warm cities, cold little ones get dubious honors
Buffalo, Los Angeles part of eclectic mix in MarketWatch’s Bottom 10 cities

49. Rochester, N.Y., 114 points: This upstate New York town might have finished last, were it not for Hurricane Katrina and the lack of reliable tourism statistics. The city was dead last in job growth and in the bottom 10 in population growth and Russell 2000 measures.
It did, however, finish eighth in the S&P 500 category, thanks to a handful of big-name firms like Bausch & Lomb, Eastman Kodak Co., and Constellation Brands.

47. Buffalo, N.Y., 125 points: This upstate New York City, known for its tough winters, is much in the same boat as 49th-ranked Rochester — and it isn’t just because of the weather, says Richard Deitz, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank’s Buffalo office.
According to Deitz, neither Buffalo nor Rochester ever fully recovered from a decline in heavy industry several decades ago.
“Our economy has not fared very well, certainly over the last couple of decades,” Deitz said. “Climate can be a factor, but it’s not the only factor.”
Buffalo was next to last in population growth, as it lost nearly 3% of its residents. It now has only one major company, M&T Bank Corp.

New York City was the highest city in the state, coming in at No. 8.

If you want proof that weather has little to do with where a business locates, just take a gander at MarketWatch’s Bottom 10 centers for business.
Two frigid towns in upstate New York — Buffalo and Rochester — made the Bottom 10 list. So did desert havens Tucson, Ariz., and Las Vegas. And the metro area with perhaps the nation’s most temperate climate, Los Angeles, also was in this dubious category.

Read the full report here..

Thompson speaks out on bridge safety

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

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NFP – News: Thompson speaks out on bridge safety

It was a hot day when an even hotter topic was discussed – the safety of the Grand Island bridges. This past Wednesday, Rus Thompson, a candidate for the Erie County Legislature in the 10th District, held a press conference below the northbound South Grand Island Bridge.
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