Who's on the board

[WNYresident]

I think Pataki said he didn't want any local elected officials on the board. I could be wrong though. But you heard the minorities wanted to know why there weren't any minorities on the control board.

I think what the control board is supposed to do has nothing to do with race. This is how it spends it money on it's services. Not where, but the acutal operation of the business side of the money.

In this case what difference is black or white? I could see the importance on the common council but not the control board.

This is to control the out of hand labor contracts and department cost. I dont care if you are black or white if you are paid too much you go.

Am i missing the point?

[sumott]

[
Am i missing the point? [/B][/QUOTE]

No, you are not missing the point. But as usual the people that are running the government are. We do not need any elected officials on this board. We NEED business people and efficiency experts. Then we need the politicians to do all that is necessary to put into effect the recommendations of the board. If not, turn out the lights and bring on the bulldozers........

[WNYresident]

Did I miss understand a comment i heard? Something that Meegan stated there will be trouble if they don't get thier raise and so forth?

SO what do cities have in general to protect them from Union leaders on EGO trips?

I think I'm going to call him tomarrow and confirm that he made that comment.

This is gonna be fun.

[frank austin]

Actually, its not about race. If you were a
Polish-American livinging in Western New York
wouldn't you want someone from your ethnic
group on that Board?
The Irish, Italians and Jews are the best
political groups in our area. There is nothing
wrong with this. It's just the way things go.
Of course, if you believe, as I do, that ethnicity
and race are too highly valued in our community
tean that's another story.

[Unregistered]

I want real business people on the board wether they are Black, White, green or purple. Someone mentioned McCall? IF that would make the black community happy they should do it without question, but if there's someone more business qualified that's who we want.

[TDoran]

Looks like McCall is on board, according to the Buffalo News this morning. I wasn't living in NY State when McCall was state comptroller. What are your opinions of him?

[frank austin]

Originally posted by TDoran
Looks like McCall is on board, according to the Buffalo News this morning. I wasn't living in NY State when McCall was state comptroller. What are your opinions of him?

Carl McCall is a bright financial mind. He's
considered to be very honest. I

[tonyolm]

Will these people have balls to remove the issues that are ruining WNY. The lucrative union contracts, perks, etc.

Re-arranging where the money is coming from is not fixing the issue.

I still beleive that be basically have a legalized organized crime but hey use the rules they created to get away with it.

Has anyone been watching what some of the patronage jobs get for salaries? Like the tax reciever of cheektowaga? $65,000 for about 2 months of busy work that someone can do without a college degree?

or how about Amherst? The highway department just hired another "ASSistant" for thier new supervisor but still have the old assistant. I guess the new hire isn't qualified but he was on the election board or something.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by TDoran
Looks like McCall is on board, according to the Buffalo News this morning. I wasn't living in NY State when McCall was state comptroller. What are your opinions of him?

He's to union friendly and friendly toward civil servants.

I doubt he is probusiness or promerger consolidation.

As such, he is going to increase Buffalo's taxes to the max, increase Buffalo's borrowing to the max and force the sharing of the sales tax which will place Erie County into a state of financial crisis!

Any money given to Buffalo is just going to perpetuate the crisis. It will go to the police unions instead and the teachers unions instead of increasing the quality of services while cutting costs.

This was done to placate the Black Comnmunity. Well, I am a fat gay hispanic jewish woman who is handicapped. I don't see diversity ... I just see blacks using denigration and victimization to justify their power and influence! Truth be told, the Black community has not come up with or endorsed a single idea that doesn't benefit themselves first and foremost. The Black Communityy does not care about the future of Buffalo or Erie County if it means losing control of their power and influence.

And that just the facts. They call the rest of the city racist but its the Black Community that is the least progressive, the most selfish and the least integrated into the city as a whole (because their interests must come first before any other city interest)!

PS: THERE ARE ALOT OF BLACK COMMUNITIES THAT DO NOT HAVE THIS REPUTATION AND I WOULDN'T CONSIDER LEVELING THIS ACCUSATION UNLESS I THOUGHT JUSTIFIED

[frank austin]

First,
Public employees pay taxes and support local
businesses. It is too bad that private sector
workers in Western New York have been
screwed over by Corporate America. Taxes
rise on the give-backs to businesses as much
as they do to workers' salaries. Don't demonize
public employees. The continual condemnation
of America's union movement is creatng a
growing economic problem.

Second,
Buffalo's Black community has long suffered
and we whites need not condemn them for
wanting to do the same things, politically,
that white ethnics have done.
This does not excuse racism,
whether is be by whites, or blacks, or
any other group. We need political, business
and religious leadership that can motivate
people into accepting differences and tolerating
varying points of view. This is , afterall, America.

Third,
Carl McCall has always looked after the
best interests of New York Tax Payers. Too
bad Wall Street didn't follow his example.

Frank Austin

[Unregistered]

I support unions and their right to organize and protect workers. I have respect for unions and was a member at one time so I understand where your coming from!

However, when a union fails to take into account the financial position of a company or a government by adding no layoff clauses, raises, bonuses that require a city to borrow and raise taxes to cover....then they are the purest form of evil extorting money from taxpayers to satiate their greed. When unions continue to suck blood from the dying then they are parasitic leaches.

I support diversity but when denigration and victimization are used to silence and bully others as a method to promote and maintain power for themselves without regard to diversity for other ethnic, religious, sex, sexual orientation, handicap, etc groups,....then I think that they are the purest form of evil!

The Black Community does not share power unless bribed or payed off. The Black Community has not contributed or endorsed any fiscally sound or progressive measure to increase government efficiency. They have done nothing but obstruct and denigrate this city in an attempt to maintain power as was witnessed by the council downsizing. This, however, is not indicative of black people because there are numerous black communities in other cities that have moved beyond 1960 integrating themselves into the political establishment. This is specifically about Buffalo's black community.

As far as McCall is concerned, he is worthless unless he nullifies the teacher and police contracts and promotes the elimination and consolidation and privatization of city services!

[Unregistered]

What gets me more is when the union people use the rules to suck extra out of over time and crap.

[frank austin]

Apparently, there are some people who
are jealous of the salaries and contracts of teachers and police and fire fighters. These
are working people who did not cause our
nation to lose trillions of dollars on Wall Street.
They are not responsible for destroying pension
systems.
We live in a Mixed Economy not a Capitalist one.
If we did, the USA would have ceased to exist
years ago.
Buffalo's black community is no different than
the Iriish, Italian, Jewish, Polish or German.
We all have our hang-ups. What we need are
leaders who can make all of us feel that we
are Americans and not hyphenated Americans.
Democracy is the most difficult form of
government to live under. That is why there
aren't too many around.

[Unregistered]

I think not. Some of the salaries, not all, are too high. There are a lot of good local employees, but then again we have quite a few that take advantage of the system. Plus where do our local politicians get on these ego trips that they think they are worth $75,000 or more a year?

They have the best health care packages guaranteed including items such as cosmetic surgery, drug abuse coverage with no contribution. When you have local Unions using the "rules" to have 30 hour work weeks and paid for 40 is a bit much. Contracts, which allow for complete abuse of overtime hours is also wrong. Just because the rules can be used to allow the abuse doesn't mean it's right. The best, minimum employee levels. But seeing this is the good old USA we have all our own opinions.

My cost of business is based on those factors and in order to keep myself competitive I need to cut cost. Now apparently they have no concern when they abuse the system and cause my cost of doing business to rise. Seeing they have no concern, I now have no concern for them.

I have personally seen patronage jobs in excess of $65,000 with benefits, overtime abuse of $30,000 or more with base salaries of $58,000/beni's and completely non-qualified people in work positions.

I also completely disagree with Project Labor Agreements. If the workers are WNY residents, that is all that matters to get the job done. How would union people like to be told where they have to shop for their items, it’s no different. I know a lot of non union companies who’s quality is the same or exceeds union shops.

WNY has been destroyed over greed. No group of people has the right to tax the common resident to the point of stupidity.

SO now looking back at the state of WNY and my earning potential, it's time to cut my cost. It's them or me. I’m not going to leave like a lot of people have done, I’d rather stay and fight to make changes. It’s time to make the people that put WNY into this economic state leave.

[frank austin]

I did not mean to insult anyone, specifically
the small business people in our community.
The current tax structure of our state and the
federal government places too much emphasis
on salaries of workers and profits of small
and medium sized businesses.
Why not try these ideas:

1.In order to keep public employee salaries
down allow them tax deductions for various
aspects of their employment. This would counter
balance taxes on "large, multi-state and multi
international businesses.
2. Give the same relief to businesses that
generate less than $10 million a year in
taxable income.
3. America's business growth has been in the
area of small business. Encourage it.
4. Review America's trade policies. In the last
30 years we have given too much benefit
to foreign investors and out-side the USA
investment. Give the boot to off-shore tax
dodges.
4. Try to find a Republican or Democat
who favors a change in USA invesment
practices.
Frank Austin

[WNYresident]

Why can't the residents of WNY ask for a federal control board. We have seem the first grouping of "control board" people put togeather which I know i wasn't thrilled with.

This is some serious issues we have going on in WNY and we can't afford to have people that are not qualified or "could be bought" on the board.

Is this something we think we could petition to the feds for help? We do not want this to be draged on for 10 years while they continue to suck money out of our pockets.

Anyone here have any experience in petitions?

[Unregistered]

what you all seem to overlook is this: Bflo is asking the state to appoint a control board to govern the finances of Bflo. This would indicate that the city has recognized that the citizens of Bflo are incapable of electing responsible leadership to do what is needed to make Bflo a viable city. They just keep on pullin' that "democratic" lever in the voting booth no matter what the consequences.
Now people in buffalo want to have a say in who gets appointed to the board that will take power away from them... They want a board that won't really change anything (we wouldn't want uncle louie losing his job in the streets dept....) but can be blamed when nothing changes.
Theres a big white elephant in the room and nobody seems to notice. The voters in Bflo have been deemed incompetent and unable to run their own affairs. It's that simple. Argentina is having the exact same problem now - the only difference is they are a soverign nation and there is no "higher" level of government to bail them out. Those Argentinians love doling out government jobs too, and now they are bankrupt just like Bflo.
The party's over and now the bill is due.

[WNYresident]

He nailed it on the head. You will not make everyone happy with any control board. I dont know why people can realize they will lose thier jobs and/or take real pay cuts. If they don't like the job after thier pay cut they can move like a lot of other people had to.

Still I expect all elected officials to to take up to a 30% pay cut if they are earning more than $80,000. This includes the little stipends they take too.