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Thread: This is why Buffalo is Buffalo

  1. #31
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    Leftie, I’m not disagreeing that downstate foots the bill. In fact, if one incorporates all forms of taxes, eg. transfer taxes on financial transactions and so on its even mores skewed. All that said, the entire state is grossly overtaxed. And way too much of it goes to the protected class through government handouts to the likes of whack job pillhead Elon Musk. Don’t get me wrong, if he made his money by coming up with marketable ideas that the public wants and can use good for him. Instead he makes grotesquely overpriced piece of **** electric cars and then he makes millions selling government created bogus carbon tax credits that are nothing more than government extortion to allow productive business to avoid being taxed out of business. As near as I can tell, his whole solar panel scheme is nothing but a taxpayer funded house of cards that was raking in millions in salable credits but enough people woke up and put a crimp in it.

  2. #32
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    One of my favorite cartoons....

    Oh yeah who enabled the solarcity project.. The "We Did It" group...


  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post
    In public transportation every transfer you add to the process cuts your ridership massively. So the transfer you mention is not as easy to overcome as you seem to suggest. Also to note, these busses would go away with the extension and the money UB spends on them would go into the new network to my understanding.


    Should also be mentioned that the extension to UB North also includes connecting to a few massive office parks which opens up the jobs there to a huge number of city residents. Companies like Geico for example.
    Actually, Leftie, your point about the effect of transfers militates against the installation of static systems like light rail. Since its route can’t be adjusted once constructed without fantastic additional expense it’s the least practical alternative for a dynamic environment. And the current design of the system misses every major economic center out there. It stops short of Consumer Square and the massive accumulation of retail but instead turns down Maple Road and the up Sweet Home to UB. Most of the planned stops are on the UB campus and from the point it leaves the campus there are no stops until the terminus at a park and ride. It doesn’t get anywhere near GEICO and Cross Point business park. Nor are there stops along Audubon to service the town facilities out there or the offices on Audobon and the side roads like Bryant Woods. This whole scheme was in part supported by Homer Simpson when he was president of UB and it became UB’s own little trolley. I don’t support massive public spending projects like this that typically benefit a few, especially where the few are the ones who came up with the idea and the mass of people pay the cost. But the least they could do if they want to spend $200 billion of other people’s money is to try and come up with a plan that looks marginally competent.
    Last edited by grump; February 3rd, 2019 at 02:00 PM.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Actually, Leftie, your point about the effect of transfers militates against the installation of static systems like light rail. Since its route can’t be adjusted once constructed without fantastic additional expense it’s the least practical alternative for a dynamic environment. And the current design of the system misses every major economic center out there. It stops short of Consumer Square and the massive accumulation of retail but instead turns down Maple Road and the up Sweet Home to UB. Most of the planned stops are on the UB campus and from the point it leaves the campus there are no stops until the terminus at a park and ride.

    There is something called Transit Oriented Development. Wherever the line is built in Amherst will become the corridor. Regardless of what exists today. For example, what exists at Consumer Square would move to a redeveloped Blvd Mall project. Running the line to where things are today rather than to the most opportunity is how things were done in the past. And where things went wrong.

    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    It doesn’t get anywhere near GEICO and Cross Point business park. Nor are there stops along Audubon to service the town facilities out there or the offices on Audobon and the side roads like Bryant Woods. This whole scheme was in part supported by Homer Simpson when he was president of UB and it became UB’s own little trolley. I don’t support massive public spending projects like this that typically benefit a few, especially where the few are the ones who came up with the idea and the mass of people pay the cost. But the least they could do if they want to spend $200 billion of other people’s money is to try and come up with a plan that looks marginally competent.
    In Phase 2 they go out that way. http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...pture_11_0.JPG

    I must say I think the way they are running the line past UB is stupid. Once it exists UB it should run parallel to Millersport all the way to the entrance to Crosspoint. There are several massive parcels that are perfect for TOD.

  5. #35
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    Leftie, there may be something called transit oriented development. My guess is it’s a concept pushed by public transit outfits like NFTA. Without reviewing the history of any transit system I’d be willing to bet you a new hat that mass transit follows development and not the other way around. They didn’t build subways under Manhatran because there was no develolment there and they had to do something to spur it! Hell, even the idiots at NFTA built the existing rail on Main Street where there were businesses...until construction of the subway wiped them out. Wherever the line is built will become the corridor? Really? When exactly did you leave town because after 35 years we’re still waiting for the existing “corridor” to develop. And the little change that has occurred, occurred only after auto traffic has been reintroduced. Do you believe for a minute that the businesses in Consumer Square are going to abondon locations 6 blocks down the street and incur the costs to move to Blvd. Mall because that’s where the train is? They may abandon their facilities all righty but they’ll do what businesses downtown did, they’ll fold and move on after a 10 year construction project has devestated their businesses and permanently changed traffic and shopping patterns. If transit oriented development is the key then there is absolutely no reason for NFTA to extend the rail to Cross Point as you suggest. Rather, the tenants of Cross point will be at each other’s throats to move the mile or 2 to the empty field where the park and ride is going. Somehow, I don’t think GEICO and the rest at Cross Point are going to abandon what is probably over $100 million in construction and replicate it just down the road to be near a transit system that no one wants and no one rides. But I could be wrong.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Leftie, there may be something called transit oriented development. My guess is it’s a concept pushed by public transit outfits like NFTA. Without reviewing the history of any transit system I’d be willing to bet you a new hat that mass transit follows development and not the other way around.
    I am watching transit oriented development unfold each and every day here in Charlotte on the current line. I also see first hand the land speculation based on the upcoming second line and the proposed 3rd and 4th lines. Development absolutely follows transit.

    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    They didn’t build subways under Manhatran because there was no develolment there and they had to do something to spur it! Hell, even the idiots at NFTA built the existing rail on Main Street where there were businesses...until construction of the subway wiped them out. Wherever the line is built will become the corridor? Really? When exactly did you leave town because after 35 years we’re still waiting for the existing “corridor” to develop.
    I don't think it is fair to compare NYC to most every city and especially Buffalo. Also, Buffalo is not Amherst. If they ran a line to South Buffalo I wouldn't think the same results would happen.

    Transit Oriented Development only exists in places where development would already happen. It's just a more advanced level of development. Denser. Integrated.

    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Do you believe for a minute that the businesses in Consumer Square are going to abondon locations 6 blocks down the street and incur the costs to move to Blvd. Mall because that’s where the train is?
    I said eventually and yes at some point they would relocate. Look at Dash's in Buffalo. Wegmans has redeveloped stores multiple times. Is it really hard for you to see Target doing it and when they do relocating to be on a light rail stop connected to 20,000 students? I don't.

  7. #37
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    Leftie, I gotta tell you, Buffalo ain’t NYC but also it ain’t Charlotte either. But I’m glad you agree that development drives transit and not the reverse. You’re right Amherst is not Buffalo but it will be within 10 years if the Democrats retain control. They poison everything they touch. Dash’s isn’t relocating to get near a transit stop or a bus stop; it needed more space and found a lot down the street to build it. And Wegman’s has redeveloped many stores upstate but it hasn’t moved them...well unless you count the Alberta Drive store that moved across the parking lot to the vacant Chase Pitkin store it also owned. It didn’t move to get near a bus stop, the bus stop came to it! I suppose over time every place might relocate eventually if you propose a long enough time frame but that’s not the same as entire shopping plazas moving to be near a train stop. And the students already have access to Target. I see them there and at Blaze Pizza and elsewhere in Consumer Square all the time! If NFTA really wanted to service retail centers and commercial centers it would build to them and service them. Instead, just like the original subway deal, it has a years old plan, pushed by a scum sucker who came to this area and sold a bill of goods called UB2020 (and well rewarded some personal friends along the way) and then took off, leaving others to deal with an unworkable plan, his modus operandi throughout his career, a fact available to anyone who bothered to look. That’s why most of the stops are on the Amherst campus. The taxpayer picked up the tab for one failed NFTA subway scheme. I don’t think we ought stuck picking up $200 billion tab for another.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Leftie, I gotta tell you, Buffalo ain’t NYC but also it ain’t Charlotte either.
    And this might be all that's needed to be said. I can tell you how things work in productive cities without a massive entitlement class, entrenched politicians and the idiots who elect them year after year but I sometimes forget how broken WNY is and why anyone stays.


    I must say that the acceleration of the demise of NYS is speeding up. I love reading about the fallout from the 10k cap on the SALT deduction. 2.3 billion short in the first year. lulzy.

  9. #39
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    Leftie, my son was in Charlotte 10 years ago to audition for a position with the Charlotte Symphony. He set aside 3 days in case he advanced in the competition. He didn’t which left him 2 days to hang out. He loved it. He called me and said “Dad, there’s construction cranes all over creation.” And that was in the middle of the slump! Of course around here the appearance of a construction crane on the horizon is as common as an appearance of the Virgin Mary. I was in another southern city last week and the approaches to and from the airport were a mess. Not because of roads left to decay but because the growth was fueling major upgrades to the transportation grid. Upstate New York is falling further behind every day and the rate is increasing. All brought to you by the New York State Democratic Party. Cuomo’s budgets have been hiding deficits for years but now he thinks he can blame it on Trump. I guess the IRS squelched his idiot scheme to set up bogus “charities” as the tax collectors to try and preserve deductions for his rich friends in Westchester. Too bad too. I had my letters to the Town of Amherst and the Amherst School District all drafted telling them I couldn’t contribute this year due to other charitable commitments. Next year wasn’t looking too good either!

  10. #40
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post

    I must say that the acceleration of the demise of NYS is speeding up. I love reading about the fallout from the 10k cap on the SALT deduction. 2.3 billion short in the first year. lulzy.

    Personally I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing.

    Good thing that in it might cause the positive changes the state really needs or... Bad thing if they dig their heels in and just keep dumping more debt and higher taxes on the "NET" tax payer/businesses.

  11. #41
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    WNY, I think we already know the answer.

  12. #42
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Scary isn't isn't

  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    Personally I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing.

    Good thing that in it might cause the positive changes the state really needs or... Bad thing if they dig their heels in and just keep dumping more debt and higher taxes on the "NET" tax payer/businesses.
    It's not going to change anything. NY, NJ and CA are already saying this 100% the fault of Trump and has nothing to do with their spending.

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    Funny part in all this is the NYS deficit is closer to $12 billion. Il Douche has been using bookkeeping gimmicks to cover it up and roll it forward each year. Now that the federal tax code has somewhat equalized the tax law by limiting deductions that benefit only the rich in high tax states like NY, NJ, & CA they’re bleating like lambs. Hey, Il Douche, where are all the charities you were gonna set up so that all your rich friends in Westchester like the Clintons could continue to shift their taxes onto the middle class taxpayers in other states?

  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    Funny part in all this is the NYS deficit is closer to $12 billion. Il Douche has been using bookkeeping gimmicks to cover it up and roll it forward each year. Now that the federal tax code has somewhat equalized the tax law by limiting deductions that benefit only the rich in high tax states like NY, NJ, & CA they’re bleating like lambs. Hey, Il Douche, where are all the charities you were gonna set up so that all your rich friends in Westchester like the Clintons could continue to shift their taxes onto the middle class taxpayers in other states?

    It's really shocking why the right has not gone after SALT deductions before. If they are somehow able to make this permanent....end of days right there.

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