Weinstein Calls For Control Board

[steven]

"No one wants to raise taxes in order to fund the administration any more, so I'm calling for a control board,” said Erie County Legislator Barry Weinstein.

Weinstein isn’t just calling for any control board. He wants the same one running the City of Buffalo.

Next week, he'll submit a resolution requesting that the city control board be expanded to take over the county, as soon as State Comptroller Alan Hevesi finishes his audit of county finances.

Reporter: "Do you think you'll find support in the legislature?"
Weinstein: "Probably, yes. I think most of the legislature has lost credibility with the Giambra Administration. I think the legislature's paralysis and failure to raise taxes is in part due to a loss of faith."

http://wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=28474

[biker]

Originally posted by steven
"Reporter: "Do you think you'll find support in the legislature?"
Weinstein: "Probably, yes. I think most of the legislature has lost credibility with the Giambra Administration. I think the legislature's paralysis and failure to raise taxes is in part due to a loss of faith."

http://wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=28474

I hope this is a really, really bad misquote. Cause I used to think of Weinstein as a pretty smart guy.

Who cares if you have no credibility with Giambra.

It's like saying you have no credibility with a pile of cow flop you just came upon.

[biker]

No Control Board.

The City was both financially and morally bankrupt.

The County is not financially bankrupt.

As to the Legislature's paralysis, democracy has a way of dealing with that. We just have to put people in their who know what to do.

Which is not to raise taxes.

Maybe Weinstein's true colors are coming out.

It's time for some adults to show up. If you don't have the dough, you can't spend it.

Period.

[WNYresident]

Perhaps Barry is wise enough to know the entire group involved in the budget issues will not solve the issues. Even smart people know when it's wise to stop beating your head against a brick wall.

You know if you put 2 smart people in a group of 20 idiots, even the smart people look stupid .

[Boost Buffalo]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Perhaps Barry is wise enough to know the entire group involved in the budget issues will not solve the issues. Even smart people know when it's wise to stop beating your head against a brick wall.

You know if you put 2 smart people in a group of 20 idiots, even the smart people look stupid .

the City's control board taking the County's checkbook is a brilliant idea. Not only will they aggressively control county spending, but it will expose the extreme redundancy within our city/county community to the control board, and they have the brains to properly interpret it and report it.

This takeover by the control board should not be delayed.

[Night Owl]

Weinstein isn’t just calling for any control board. He wants the same one running the City of Buffalo.

As long as it isn't the same plan Giambra has for a Control Board, he said on the news the other day that he will allow a control board if it includes a merger of the County & the City.

Doesn't he never stop pushing the merger?

Why is it so important to "take over" the City of Buffalo?

What is it that he is looking to hide?

I am very suspicious that there's more to the story than just Giambra's form of "reform".

$108 million in cuts already and another $113 million deficit... I can't swallow this down easily. Hevesi said in a statement that he has a dozen people working on the County Budget, with that many people I surely hope the are ripping the budget apart line by line and finds more of the damage underneith the surface of the budget.

woo, I'm a little feitsy this morning

[Boost Buffalo]

Originally posted by Night Owl
Weinstein isn’t just calling for any control board. He wants the same one running the City of Buffalo.


Doesn't he never stop pushing the merger?

woo, I'm a little feitsy this morning

yes, you're feisty today.

and Night Owl, lets not confuse our need to understand county finances and controlling city/county costs with merging the city and the county.

Dont expect the city and our surrounding municipalities will ever lose their separate identities, they're all well rooted and fine. Its the county level that needs to be cut down.

We need to cut waste at all levels and replace unqualified politicians wih capable leaders and managers. We'll need only a fraction of what we employ now.

Then we'll live happily ever after.

[citymouse]

How can any one call in to question Joel's intentions?
Hasn't he already proven time and time again his only motivation is the public good?
Hsan't, by his past performance deeds and actions won the public trust?
Look at how he helps the down trodden of Erie County, such as James Spano. Trowing Carl Paladino a bone by way of renting office space the county dosen't need.
His good works to the people who put him in office should have won a special place in the hearts of all Western New Yorkers.

[WNYresident]

Originally posted by citymouse
How can any one call in to question Joel's intentions?
Hasn't he already proven time and time again his only motivation is the public good?
Hsan't, by his past performance deeds and actions won the public trust?
Look at how he helps the down trodden of Erie County, such as James Spano. Trowing Carl Paladino a bone by way of renting office space the county dosen't need.
His good works to the people who put him in office should have won a special place in the hearts of all Western New Yorkers.

Thats why its insane when people stick up for him.

[moadib]

I LIKE THE CONTROL BOARD MEMBERS! I WOULD LOVE THEIR OVERSIGHT OVER ERIE CNTY & BUFF

I DONT THINK IT REALLY HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH MERGING BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY

BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE COUNTY EXPERIENCE THE SAME OVERSIGHT AS THE CITY!

BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE COUNTY EXPERIENCE THE SAME HIRING FREEZES AND PAY FREEZES AS THE CITY!

BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE COUNTY EXPERIENCE THE SAME PUSH FOR A SINGLE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE SAVINGS ON COMBINING THE IDAS, TAX COLLECTION, ACCOUNTING / PAYROLL / AUDITING / CONTROLLING FUNCTIONS.

BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE SAVINGS ON COMBINING THE BUFFALO POLICE AND THE ERIE COUNTY SHERRIFFS

EVEN PUTTING THE PROPOSED MERGER BETWEEN BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY ASIDE....I THINK THE CONTROL BOARD HAS DONE A VERY GOOD JOB FOR BUFFALO OF FORCING GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY AND STANDING UP TO UNIONS INSTEAD OF ALWAYS STICKING IT TO THE TAX PAYERS!

WE COULD ONLY BE SO LUCKY TO HAVE THE VOICE OF THE CONTROL BOARD STANDING UP FOR THE ERIE COUNTY TAX PAYERS...INSTEAD OF WHAT WE HAVE NOW!

[southbuffaloguy]

Weinstein , along with Cusack and Marshall has been absolutely nothing more than a tv sound bite since December. He is great for telling Channel 2 what resolutions should be introduced or passed but during the legislative sessions he sits there as quiet as a mouse and does nothing . He wants a control board just so they can conveniently be taken off the hook for all this so to speak as do a majority of the rest of our esteemed county officials. They voted unanimously for every budget passed the last 4 years and now all you hear from them is they didn't know anything, they never got any reports. I find it ridiculous that they never knew thier own staffers weren't cut as the rest of the work force was paywise . Pure Bull**** !!!! These people had a cakewalk the past 10 or 15 years and now that difficult decisions are warranted they don't have the guts or the wherewithal to anything. Weinstein whined about the illegality of closing the parks for weeks on end and then votes against opening them . The three mentioned above plus Ratzenhofer wouldn't vote for the sales tax , but voted against the cuts . Hello ??? They went on and on about patronage and pork but took everything thrown their way until people began to get angry over the magnitude of how much of it there was . In 6 months they have done absolutely nothing to propose anything constructive in regards to this fiasco . They need to be replaced , every last one of them.

[buffy]

I'M GONNA SHOUT ALONG WITH MOADIB
WE'RE SHOUTING, YOU HEAR US PEOPLE? WE WOULD L-O-V-E A CONTROL BOARD!
YOU GO BARRY, YOU'RE MY LEGISLATOR AND I LOVE WHAT YOU ARE DOING SO MUCH THAT MY ENTIRE POST IS IN CAPS (BECAUSE I'M SHOUTING BECAUSE I LOVE THE IDEA OF A CONTROL BOARD!
Whew! that took a lot out of me, I don't know how Moadib does it. But hey, I'm with you on this one Mo.

[moadib]

Well, more reason to reduce the legislature to p/t & bring on the control board

If the legislature cant take the leadership and make the decisions....then we dont need them...cut them to part time and bring on the control board!

[biker]

No, democracy is working.

It's just not very efficient.

They didn't cut $108 million. They grabbed another 14 million in reserves (which don't exist) and hoped 6.0 million in Medicaid costs would just disappear.

[biker]

They can cut the rest by just moving the decimal point over one notch.

Not very creative, but it works.

Voila. A budget for every cost center, every line item for every month.

They've demonstrated they can't do anything thoughtful or creative. Just hack at it.

And another thing. They gave Joel $800 thousand more than he said he needed in his Red Budget. Cut that out now.

Just his salary. No aides. No phone. Just Joel talking to himself.