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Thread: AM&A mess

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    AM&A mess

    Just as we learn about the slap on the wrist received by Ciminelli for his role in one of the largest frauds in Western New York history, we’re treated to the comedy of errors that is the hotel project at the old AMA site on Main street. When the story first broke years ago about the plan to turn the site into a major tourist location for all the thousands of Chinese who flock to Buffalo every year, I related it to friends and family out of town. Their incredulous laughter was all but uncontainable. Another bogus plan foisted on desperate western New Yorkers. Perhaps Cuomo can put $750 million of our money into it and then give it to a major Democratic contributor to make a “product” no one wants. The parameters of the bid rigging to support it are already worked out.

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Just as we learn about the slap on the wrist received by Ciminelli for his role in one of the largest frauds in Western New York history, we’re treated to the comedy of errors that is the hotel project at the old AMA site on Main street. When the story first broke years ago about the plan to turn the site into a major tourist location for all the thousands of Chinese who flock to Buffalo every year, I related it to friends and family out of town. Their incredulous laughter was all but uncontainable. Another bogus plan foisted on desperate western New Yorkers. Perhaps Cuomo can put $750 million of our money into it and then give it to a major Democratic contributor to make a “product” no one wants. The parameters of the bid rigging to support it are already worked out.
    LMAO

    https://buffalonews.com/2018/06/19/t...-507-michigan/

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Just as we learn about the slap on the wrist received by Ciminelli for his role in one of the largest frauds in Western New York history, we’re treated to the comedy of errors that is the hotel project at the old AMA site on Main street. When the story first broke years ago about the plan to turn the site into a major tourist location for all the thousands of Chinese who flock to Buffalo every year, I related it to friends and family out of town. Their incredulous laughter was all but uncontainable. Another bogus plan foisted on desperate western New Yorkers. Perhaps Cuomo can put $750 million of our money into it and then give it to a major Democratic contributor to make a “product” no one wants. The parameters of the bid rigging to support it are already worked out.

    Something was always fishy about this project. That said, even though people haven't been paid....the asbestos and water have been removed. So there is that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post
    Something was always fishy about this project. That said, even though people haven't been paid....the asbestos and water have been removed. So there is that.
    Leftie, if you have not already received it be prepared for a call from the PC Police. Your “fishy” reference to a project originally meant to be for the benefit of Chinese tourists is certainly questionable in today’s ambience. Someone, somewhere, has been duly offended. Count on it. According to the owners the asbestos has not been properly removed so we shall see. And why remove the water? I thought the plan called for a pool in the basement. Hell, it was already filled! This agglomeration of 7 separate buildings should be torn down and the site cleared for something different.

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    My grandmother use to park me at the food counter while she had her hair done. If I am remembering correctly the woman behind the AM&A's lunch counter was named Helen. They were friends.

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    WNY, I didn’t grow up here but I remember the Christmas window displays. One of the old timers I used to work with made it an annual event to take his grandkids to lunch and then go see the windows. Of course, subway construction destroyed that happy annual event for thousands of western New Yorkers. The candy counter sold a brand of sour hard candies that I’d never seen before and haven’t seen since.

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    I just have vague memories. My grandfather would literally drive me around pointing out everything that "used to be" when he was younger. I wish I took notes.

    I know many in the area don't see it the way I do but those in political power have done a lot of damage to our area.

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    As I’ve said numerous times, the death knell for downtown was the idiotic metro rail. The truly astounding part to me is that anyone who is sane would want to revisit an episode that rained economic devastation on the area but there’s serious talk of doing it again. Couple that debacle with Curtin’s and Reville’s antic desegregation plan, the result of which was the polar opposite of the goal, and you have a game plan for how to destroy a city.

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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Leftie, if you have not already received it be prepared for a call from the PC Police. Your “fishy” reference to a project originally meant to be for the benefit of Chinese tourists is certainly questionable in today’s ambience. Someone, somewhere, has been duly offended. Count on it. According to the owners the asbestos has not been properly removed so we shall see. And why remove the water? I thought the plan called for a pool in the basement. Hell, it was already filled! This agglomeration of 7 separate buildings should be torn down and the site cleared for something different.
    LOL. I said nothing about an anchor baby hospital. Nothing at all!


    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    As I’ve said numerous times, the death knell for downtown was the idiotic metro rail. The truly astounding part to me is that anyone who is sane would want to revisit an episode that rained economic devastation on the area but there’s serious talk of doing it again. Couple that debacle with Curtin’s and Reville’s antic desegregation plan, the result of which was the polar opposite of the goal, and you have a game plan for how to destroy a city.
    Are you saying the transit line in general or the fact that it runs above ground through downtown? I don't think you could reasonably argue for the former but the latter is true. This of course does not factor the serious corruption that took place in building the thing.

    Let me run this idea past you Grump. Here in Charlotte they are building toll lanes to reduce the need for highway expansion as the region grows. For a 26 mile segment, the state DOT entered into a 50 year agreement with a private company to build the lanes and then keep the profits. The contract and construction process has not been perfect but the idea is still there.

    What if there was a move for the NFTA to sell or long term lease the metro line to a private company? Say 50 or 75 years. This company would have the current line transfered to them upon completion of the extension to UB. They would be responsible for 100% of the cost of the extension and, there is what matters, would be able to manage the construction process as a private company.

    I am unsure if the numbers would work out but it might.

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    What if there was a move for the NFTA to sell or long term lease the metro line to a private company? Say 50 or 75 years. This company would have the current line transfered to them upon completion of the extension to UB. They would be responsible for 100% of the cost of the extension and, there is what matters, would be able to manage the construction process as a private company.

    I am unsure if the numbers would work out but it might.
    What about the numbers for the businesses who are negatively effected while the extension is being built? Will the private company offset their loss?

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    Leftie, yes the whole subway was a disaster. There’s this fiction that only the above ground portion was disruptive. That’s simply not the case. Even the underground parts led to surface disruptions due to constant “testing”, station construction with the ancillary work that went on nearby and necessary “enhancements” to ensure that the whole thing wouldn’t cave in. That’s why there were 40 blocks of empty going downtown for 35 years. Now, proving once again Einstein’s point that genius has its limits but stupid knows no boundaries, NFTA has announced that the proposed extension will abandon underground drilling for cut and cover construction, the maximally disruptive of construction techniques. The truly funny part is that NFTA celebrated this disaster as a breakthrough!!! Leave aside for the moment that redirecting the construction down Niagara Falls Blvd. as part of this process creates an engineering problem that NFTA basically acknowledged borders on a major safety concern, cut and cover is a major disruption that simply can’t be disputed.

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    This thread is about the comedy of errors at AMA but while we’re on the subway I noticed that the owners of Northtown Plaza are fencing in the old empty portion suggesting that demolition will be starting soon. The wise prospective tenant will ask whether it is worth the investment to build on a site that may be in the immediate vicinity of a years-long, traffic disrupting construction project that will negatively alter traffic and shopping habits for years, probably permanently. And shouldn’t the wise business owners along Niagara Falls Blvd. and Maple Road be looking now for a new location while they have time and flexibility instead of rolling the dice on whether funding will arise to build NFTA’s white elephant and then having to act while up against it? And shouldn’t the Sweet Home school district be asking exactly how they will get their students into and out of Sweet Home middle school and how emergency services will be given access during this years long disruption?

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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    This thread is about the comedy of errors at AMA but while we’re on the subway I noticed that the owners of Northtown Plaza are fencing in the old empty portion suggesting that demolition will be starting soon. The wise prospective tenant will ask whether it is worth the investment to build on a site that may be in the immediate vicinity of a years-long, traffic disrupting construction project that will negatively alter traffic and shopping habits for years, probably permanently. And shouldn’t the wise business owners along Niagara Falls Blvd. and Maple Road be looking now for a new location while they have time and flexibility instead of rolling the dice on whether funding will arise to build NFTA’s white elephant and then having to act while up against it? And shouldn’t the Sweet Home school district be asking exactly how they will get their students into and out of Sweet Home middle school and how emergency services will be given access during this years long disruption?
    Grump, maybe this will all go the way of Bass Pro or the new Peace Bridge

    Georgia L Schlager

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    One can hope. But the situations are different. Bass Pro is a for profit entity the management of which knew that a store in the downtown of a dying city was a nonstarter. The local media give high talker Higgins credit for “pulling the plug” on Bass Pro but there was never any plug to pull. From day one the company knew the prospects downtown were hopeless. The Peace Bridge Authority is an international body and the Canadians never bought into the foolishness that was going on on this side of the border. The last straw was putting Sam Hoyt in charge. No one has ever taken him seriously unless it involves harassment of female co workers. But NFTA is different; there’s no moderating entity or market to bring common sense to the situation while the idiots who run the show there talk to themselves. And the chair of the authority, Denise Roche is a proven sneak for whom truth is a fungible commodity.

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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Leftie, yes the whole subway was a disaster. There’s this fiction that only the above ground portion was disruptive. That’s simply not the case. Even the underground parts led to surface disruptions due to constant “testing”, station construction with the ancillary work that went on nearby and necessary “enhancements” to ensure that the whole thing wouldn’t cave in. That’s why there were 40 blocks of empty going downtown for 35 years. Now, proving once again Einstein’s point that genius has its limits but stupid knows no boundaries, NFTA has announced that the proposed extension will abandon underground drilling for cut and cover construction, the maximally disruptive of construction techniques. The truly funny part is that NFTA celebrated this disaster as a breakthrough!!! Leave aside for the moment that redirecting the construction down Niagara Falls Blvd. as part of this process creates an engineering problem that NFTA basically acknowledged borders on a major safety concern, cut and cover is a major disruption that simply can’t be disputed.
    I did not know about the move away from TBMs. I remove any previous comment as cut and cover is archaic in 2018.

    One has to wonder if the reason for using cut and cover is to allow for Johnny Goombah with a small construction company to get a 'taste' on the construction.... TBMs are mostly run by international companies. So the taste wouldn't be there.

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