This Politician Accomplished

[WNYresident]

The government doesn't create Chippewa Strips, Entrepeneurs and Consumers do!

Time to start a new thread with the title, "This politician accomplished". Now don't name a politician who just took someone elses money and handed it to someone else. Politician wise is there anyone that we can name and say look at what they did for WNY?

[therising]

Village of Lancaster - over the past 3 years has done away with Buildings Department, Water Department and Police Department. Courts Department may be next. Results are mixed in the short-term, but in the long-run they're on the way to doing something right.
Mayor's name is Bill Cansdale.

Hopefully this will pave the way for the eventual abolishment of the Villages of our area - Lancaster, Depew, Sloan (jeez), and Kenmore.

[WNYresident]

When they eliminated most of the departments did they eliminate employees?

[therising]

I believe they down-sized through attrition. No one lost their job, but no one new was hired. It's a good way to make everyone happy.

[WNYresident]

I hate to say this but the point of the tax payer isn't suppose to make employees happy. I mean don't take me wrong but if cuts our needed just make them. We'll show savings earlier, correct?

[Night Owl]

Is this a thread for anyone to post accomplishments?

[WNYresident]

Yes we are define what a accomplishment is. And the quickest way to get there.

[keyboard150]

An accomplishment would be a downsizing of government that actually DOWNSIZES, not transfers the size to another entity.

Attrition, in my opinion does not cut it in any circumstances. All that does is cut positions that were not held anyway. It may save a bit of money, but I'm sure it isn't much. The government is this regions largest employer. Therefore, we are all paying each others salaries. Wonder why we have the highest tax rates?

An Accomplishment would be: (and anything less is no accomplishment)

1. Create a plan for one centralized government.
2. Centralize the government
3. Rehire workers based on need, NOT political connections.
4. Re-establish unions under new laws.

[therising]

What's that saying about "Those who can Do, those who can't....."
anyway keyboard I guess you don't belive in baby steps.
You just think that we're going to centralize government overnight.
What I posted was, indeed, an ccomplishment in this direction.
I don't need you to tell me what an accomplishment is.

[keyboard150]

Well, I told you. So, there it is. Explain to me how cutting jobs through attrition is going to improve our area, and I will gladly tell you I was wrong.

Baby steps are necessary. I totally agree with you. This region can't handle big change. They think it will...kill them or something.

Unfortunately, a big change might be the kick in the ass that we all need.

[Night Owl]

It's a good thing I waited to make a post because it seems I have misunderstood the meaning of the thread. I thought we could write in a post as to how a specific politician did something for the better of his/her represented community.

Perhaps we should start with the proper definition of accomplishment from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionay for therising and keyboard150.

accomplishment
Main Entry: acˇcomˇplishˇment
Function: noun

1 : the act of accomplishing : COMPLETION
2 : something that has been accomplished : ACHIEVEMENT
3 a : a quality or ability equipping one for society
b : a special skill or ability acquired by training or practice

[Night Owl]

LOL- the laughes on me this time.
I meant to write 'Dictionary'

[therising]

Originally posted by keyboard150
Well, I told you. So, there it is. Explain to me how cutting jobs through attrition is going to improve our area, and I will gladly tell you I was wrong.


In a perfect world each local mayor/supervisor/school superintendent could just put his/her foot down and easily cut any jobs that are deemed unnecessary.
Now, I believe that you are not a dumb person, so you realize that can't be done (you're familiar with Unions, I'm sure).
SO....by disbanding redundant departments piece by piece, and not hiring new employees, we have the same end result as layoffs: Less gov't jobs and less duplications of services will eventually mean lower costs for the municipality (ie lower taxes).
Now, if other Villages/Towns would follow this lead, we'll all be in a better place.

[WNYresident]

In a perfect world each local mayor/supervisor/school superintendent could just put his/her foot down and easily cut any jobs that are deemed unnecessary.

Unnecessary means wrong. Wrong means we are spending money we don't have to.

[keyboard150]

I was trying to play dumb, I was quite serious. Attrition is great and all, but we need to do a little deeper cutting than through attrition.
See, the government goes and gives people all these cushy jobs and gets buddy-buddy with them, and then because they are all sooooo nice, they don't want to lay them off when the money runs out.
Well, around 800 of my fellow teachers have been laid off the past few years. YOu can't cut too much more than that.
However, the school district is still in trouble?
I'm not going to argue that the teachers union isn't the problem, because it is a big part of the problem. I've already spoken against the teachers union several times on this board, despite the fact that I'm a member of it.
However, their are millions, I would estimate being spent on the hierarchy.
If Buffalo was a breast, it would be a size 99zzz. We are way too top heavy here, and nobody seems to want to take on that problem. We could probably cut 1/4 or more of the administrative jobs that the district and the city have now, distribute their duties to other departments, and have a more than effective system.

However, to cut from the top, you have to convince the people at the top that make the cuts, to cut themselves.
They be too greedy, them peoples, to let dat happen.

[WNYresident]

We are way too top heavy here, and nobody seems to want to take on that problem. We could probably cut 1/4 or more of the administrative jobs that the district and the city have now, distribute their duties to other departments, and have a more than effective system.



Issue is the rest of them would have to work harder and they don't want to. It's in their contract.

[Curmudgeon]

Hopefully the control board will do some cutting there as well.

[keyboard150]

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from the control board to date about the bloated hierarchy.

Probably because they were hired by a state with a bloated hierarchy.

[WNYresident]

We are joking about family and friends at the county/local governments level, think about the state level.

[WNYresident]

Back to topic..

can't anyone come up with a few politicians that actually netted us a positive for the community while in office?

[keyboard150]

Joe Golembek has a pretty good record of doing what he thinks is right, rather than his party.

He was a strong supporter of the council downsizing. Now he wants to run for assembly. I say, lets give him the chance.

Why?

1. It can't get any worse.

2. Hoyt doesn't really care about us, and he's shown that in his voting time and time again.

[absolivious]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Back to topic..

can't anyone come up with a few politicians that actually netted us a positive for the community while in office? Memo to Tony, Joel, and Kevin: Please step aside. The truly visionary Frank X. Schwab (Mayor of Buffalo, 1922 - 1929) had a really cool idea some 80 years ago: Click here (http://www.buffalonian.com/history/articles/1901-50/1924schwabnewyear/1924map.gif)

[Night Owl]

Maybe this is too difficult a question to be asking on the boards, WNYresident. I think some are having a hard time understanding what this thread really means. It should be asked that the Admin monitors the posts and if it doesn't apply to the topic, then it should be taken out of the thread, making it so that this one particular topic is not an open debate.

this is an idea of what you're looking for in this thread:

Jimmy Griffin, accomplishment public meetings with the intent of assisting the Hickory Woods residents. He most recently accomplished getting new sidewalks put in along Seneca Street as part of the city's commitment to the redevelopment project.

Former President Bill Clinton while in office accomplished balanced budgets to where the country actually had a surplus. He also accomplished the Family and Medical Leave Act, and welfare reform.

And if there is a point of saying the negative, you can say:

Joel Giambra, accomplished squandering the tobacco settlement money.

[Night Owl]

...and even if you don't care for the politician, or he/she is not within your 'party' you can still mention an accoplishment.

As Senator, Hillary Clinton helped to get funding to Western New York after two consecutive (sp?) snow storms.

[WNYresident]

What did she get funded?

[WNYresident]

What about un-endorsing someone? For those lovely politicians that never accomplished anything?

[keyboard150]

I've always loved this idea, and I wish it WOULD be given more consideration.

Think about the power that we could have by doing that. It would take even MORE work than merging just Buffalo and Erie, but it might be a huge benefit.

Mississauga and Toronto, for instance. Maybe... have there actually been studies done on the feasibility of this?


Originally posted by absolivious
Memo to Tony, Joel, and Kevin: Please step aside. The truly visionary Frank X. Schwab (Mayor of Buffalo, 1922 - 1929) had a really cool idea some 80 years ago: Click here (http://www.buffalonian.com/history/articles/1901-50/1924schwabnewyear/1924map.gif)

[Night Owl]

What did she get funded?

In representing the state, the senators have provided equiptment and man-power (funding) towards the clean up and etc. when the area was hit with record snowfall from 2000 and 2001.

I thought this topic was just to list the people who did what to make the area better from the position they were voted into?

For example: Mark Schroder, accomplished the establishment of of a GED and traing program in South Buffalo where hundreds of young and old adults have received their high school equivency certificate within it's first two years of success.

What about un-endorsing someone? For those lovely politicians that never accomplished anything?

Wouldn't that go under a new thread... maybe titled 'wasted years- wasted money' or etc. Either way, someone would have to begin the new topic.

[WNYresident]

Sort of sad we didn't have people step up to the plate and state what our local politicans have accomplished.

[Night Owl]

Funny how everyone is not shy when it comes to listing anything 'bad', I can't tell if it's just because people are so used to complaining, or there really isn't anything good to print about.

Maybe hearing about new sidewalks being put in along Seneca Street isn't as good as the complaints about how our tax dollars aren't being spent on necessities.