Say good-bye to the City of Buffalo

[tomac]

Any thoughts as to why Boss Giambra is now talking about cutting the City and pasting it to the County? Could it be that the Grand Jury is starting to breath do his neck concerning the "honest graft" and corruption out at Aurora? How long will it be before he decides that the rest of the towns must join the dance while he plays the tune?
He wants this deal in place by the end of 2005.
He promised that he wouldn't run again for the position of County Executive, but of course the County Executive won't be running the "New Greater Buffalo" region, so he'll probably be running for that position.
At a much higher salary.
With plenty of bones to be tossed to his pals. (Note that one of his buds just got a pay increase from $70k to $120k despire that fact the the new position has yet to be ratified by the County Legislature and okayed by the State Assembly)
And who is going to pay for this pipe dream? Not me; I'm outta here.

[WNYresident]

Oh who got the raise? 120k? He or she better be worth it. Thats a lot of money period.

[tomac]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Oh who got the raise? 120k? He or she better be worth it. Thats a lot of money period.

Kevin Helfer (or Helfter, I don't have the paper in front of me at the moment).
Last week he was styled as being in charge of Contractual Agreements for Children or some such (again I don't have the paper handy).
According to an old Centrex that I have from 2001 (retained to keep County phone numbers when the new ones came out) he was a caseworker in Social Services.
Looks like he's a Joel Appointee that got "fast-tracked" to a high paying job. He's even making more than Boss Joel right now.
Funny how Giambra can give him this promotion and yet it has to be approved by everybody but God first.
Special Note: If Giambra's scheme goes through and he does gain control of the city as well as the county, I will hanceforth and no more call him "Boss Joel" or "Boss Giambra"; his title shall be "Il Duce"
And (to quote Sandy Beach) did you hear how Boss Joel bitch-slapped phoney Tony Baloney? After the mayor has publically gone along with the Boss' scheme to do away with the city, the Boss says:"...and if he (Tony) doesn't want to go along with it (the scheme), I'll use all of my influence to find somebody that will..."
This sounds like someone that intends on ruling by decree.
Hmmm, just like Il Duce...

[Curmudgeon]

....thank god. At least somebody is doing something....

[WNYresident]

Originally posted by Curmudgeon
....thank god. At least somebody is doing something....

Curm exactly what is this person acutally doing that they weren't doing before hand except getting a larger paycheck on the tax payers dime.

[tomac]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Curm exactly what is this person acutally doing that they weren't doing before hand except getting a larger paycheck on the tax payers dime.

You'll have to excuse that writer's somewhat masochistic point of view. It seems that he actually LIKES having the politicans steal money from him.
Then he turns around and parrots their cry of "it's the unions' and Civil Servant's fault."
Polly want a cracker?

[citymouse]

It's a good thing Giambra dosen't have an ego problem!!!
He is a "nothing up my sleve kind of guy".
And he has cahonnies the size of jupiters moons.
Take two political wash outs add a double dose of bankruptcy and sprinkle it with Bull Sh*t dust.
Then say trust us we will combine our talents and fix everything.
I trust them, how about you?
When you ad stupid and stupid all you get is stupider.

[tomac]

Originally posted by citymouse
I trust them, how about you?
When you ad stupid and stupid all you get is stupider.

Are you saying that this is going to be a movie?

"Dumb and Dumber 3: The Final Insult"

[citymouse]

I didn't use dumb and dumber because of copyright laws.
If the city and county were to become one we would have a true conumdrum. Each entity is only allowed one village idiot. Tony is dumber then Joel, But only because he is taller and the air he breathes is thinner.
How would we chose?

[WNYresident]

You know now many crackers these politicians have been taking...

[therising]

How about trying to be open-minded for once?

Virtually everyone in this board is constantly whing about the same things - taxes, unions, excessive government,
etc.

Let's hear his thing out. It' seems like it's worked in other areas. And MAYBE taxes would actually be reduced. (If not, then it should be a no-go)

I'm not saying we should do it tomorrow, let's, at least, keep an open mind about it.

[yokes]

I'm not saying we should do it tomorrow, let's, at least, keep an open mind about it.

I couldnt have said it better therising. I am amazed how quickly any idea is tossed asside because of who what where proposed it. It must be nice to not see the big picture, attitudes like this are exactly what killed this region.

[citymouse]

You have to consider the source. This is Joel Giambra we are talking about.
He Lied about his budget, let workers continue on the job at the Aurora barns who he knew were out of line, and might have even tried to cover it up. creates and gives good paying jobs to croonies like the Easter bunnie gives out candy and bought a million dollars worth of office furniture for two and a half million.
He was comptroller for the city of Buffalo for ten years and helped bring about it's fiscal demise. He brought that expierience to county hall, then promptly lowered taxes beyond responsible limits, drew on the tabbaco money to fill the gaps and now that thats gone has a budget deficit and has to lay rank and file off.
This guy is fiscally responsible? He has a better Idea?
Are you people nuts?

[yokes]

Citymouse don't worry you've convinced me. its all the evil politicians, we are doomed. I'm voting for the staus quo from now on, because afterall its worked so *$&%& well.

Like him or not he is the only one with any ideas that are new, and I give him credit because some of his ideas piss off a lot of people. At the end of the day radical change is needed.

If nothing else these boards re-enforce my worst fears God himself could propose an idea and it would be shot down as Ittl never work, No thats not possible, etc etc etc. Hate to be a pessimist but here's to hoping for insolvency for the entire region, then maybe and I stress maybe people will wake up.

[citymouse]

I am not saying the layers of goverment in Erie county are not redundant. But I am saying in this case ...Yes, shoot the messenger.
He is a self promoter. He is not above taking a bad situation and using it for his own gain. He has a track recored of doing just that. He helped to bring us tto this point. He continued to do it even after he started spouting his "regionalism agenda".
You can't trust him is all I am saying.