Vacancy Filled
Any time one of Buffalo’s landmark buildings spent out of action was too long. But the emblematically woeful shuttering of the historical Hotel Lafayette is almost part of the past. Even better, the upcoming version will provide a venue where people can shop, eat, and live in addition to stay.
Visitors will once again be able to check out one of the areas best places to check in, as a hotel that honors a man who helped America achieve independence will hopefully again be as majestic as its martial namesake:
Renovation work at the old Hotel Lafayette is now entering the final stage.
Since last June, 270 workers have been trying to restore the building to its old grandeur.
Developer Rocco Termini tells Eyewitness News that construction workers have found many hidden historic features such as a “speak easy” in the basement, and a marble floor hidden under layers of linoleum.
You often find neat stuff while doing neat stuff. Reopening the speakeasy would be great even if it might attract hipsters. Give people something to do downtown, and they’ll do it:
Rocco Termini is president of Signature Development and he says 170 events are already booked for the newly renovated hotel.
Noise from merriment bothering nearby library patrons is the best problem downtown could have. And we can get back to olden good times. The facility was renowned for a level of fanciness that might not be available n some of the city’s more rundown areas today:
Opened in 1904, it was considered one of the best hotels in the country, featuring hot and cold running water, and phone service to the bedrooms.
I hope Termini can still restore Buffalo’s amazing buildings after he’s elected mayor right this second. His actively tangible approach to improving downtown has generated amazing progress without political supervision, which should be a lesson to all political leaders.
Termini’s useful achievements are also far superior to the self-appointed and -righteous city saviors whose plans for reviving Buffalo include demanding more governmental spending on their pet projects and demonizing anyone who’s ever voted for a Republican. Predictably dull leftists remain certain the reason progressive policies haven’t worked is that we haven’t tried enough of them.
The next time will be better, they swear. But maybe tearing down abandoned houses that are worthless because nobody wants to live in a depressed area will someday lead to prosperity, so they should keep trying. The alternative, namely trying to fill them by improving the economy through removing the barriers to fee commerce, is of course an unacceptable concept, at least according to those who got us in this mess.
Too many who try to scheme on the city’s behalf present nothing more than phony optimism cloaked in more spending. It’s natural to feel contempt for the ideas that could reverse course if they contradict one’s own, even if denying their repeated failure wouldn’t appear logical to those visiting Earth and encountering humans for the first time. Aliens might ask for explanations about some misguided Buffalo residents.
Even ideas that might superficially seem to help can actually be harmful. For one, the state historic tax credit is a well-meaning but nonetheless misguided attempt to drag hoary areas into the future. We’ve seen how long projects take when the government essentially pays people to renovate private property.
And the grant which helped finance a small portion of the refurbishment took money out of the economy in the hopes that it would someday find its way back in. If the restorers wanted that two million dollars, they could have worked to voluntarily attract that much in business.
Developers can’t be faulted for playing by the rules and taking what’s made available. But imagine how much more quickly old buildings could spring to life in the present if Albany wasn’t providing incentives to projects it deems favorites. There’s always economic uncertainty when everyone pays for services not everyone uses.
The evidence against favoritism lies in how infrequently redevelopment happens. The government’s role should be to get out of the way of Buffalo’s Terminis, as he’s the sort of seer and doer who will adapt and thrive even if he’s not offered special breaks.
The image of the hotel’s faded glory is almost too symbolic of the city in which it stands. But the image will hopefully be replaced by one of the city’s jewels re-opening for business. Apologies for the delay, but your room will finally be available.
Your Money, Your Exemption
It’s quite benevolent of New York State to let you keep a little more of what you make. Your tribute burden has been reduced, which is particularly nice considering that your money really belongs to the government anyway.
News of slight tax relief seems even kinder when one considers that New York is tightening its belt in solidarity with residents who have been forced to choose between buying vehicle fuel or lunch. Shoppers will owe a little less to Albany when they purchase something as inessential as garments:
A sales-tax exemption on clothing purchases under $110 will go back into effect starting April 1. It comes after the exemption was lifted in October 2010. The tax phased out starting in March 2011, with an exemption on clothes purchases under $55.
The restored tax exemption will apply to all clothes and shoes less than $110.
The state levied a full sales tax of 4 percent from October 2010 to March 2011 to raise revenue amid its fiscal woes. The state made $330 million during the period.
“Made” isn’t the right word. In reality, people made $330 million, and New York took it. So, thanks for the modestly narrow break:
“Certainly New Yorkers are among the highest taxed in the nation and any type of relief we can provide I think we should,” said Assemblyman Bill Reilich, R-Greece, Monroe County.
Reilich said the exemptions would help ease some of the tax burden on state residents, albeit in a small way. New York has among the highest taxes in the nation.
In other breaking news, next month is April. New York will continue to rake it in as long as citizens don’t discover that other states exist:
The Retail Council of New York State, a trade association that represents the state’s retailers, said promotion of the exemptions could help the state’s clothing stores compete with neighboring states.
“From the retail industry’s perspective here in New York, (the exemption) dilutes the competitive advantage that retailers enjoy in neighboring states with no sales tax on clothing, Massachusetts and Vermont,” said Melissa Googas, the assistant director of government relations at the Retail Council.
But we’re here to serve the capital. They can’t buy us things unless they get our money up front:
Sales-tax revenue is the largest revenue source for county governments, and they’ve been reluctant to adopt the exemption because of their own fiscal woes.
As usual, the state strives to appropriate as much as they can instead of striving to do only what’s absolutely necessary with the smallest budget imaginable. Even a teeny sanctuary from levies is portrayed as an unimaginable burden on lawmakers. Who cares how many hours it took people to earn that money? They don’t want to hear about your day at work: they just want their allowance.
New York’s vision remains remarkably short-sighted: approximately zero consideration is given to how the cut sent to the state affects those from whom it’s taken. People would have just bought more if they weren’t losing the percentage in question as penalty for engaging in commerce.
But it’s not like tax cuts would help the economy or anything. Instead, your leaders take as much as they can to fund their bloated dreams.
The mild tax relief is welcome, but it should be the start. Instead, the elected class will moan that they are starving with only a bucket of the Colonel’s chicken for lunch without any gravy on their mashed potatoes.
They’re not taking our money on a single type of purchase, and we’re such ingrates that we won’t even thank them. Talk about being dressed down.
Retire the Fat Benefits
New York State is going broke paying people to not work. In the defense of both the check issuers and receivers, neither has ever been notorious for working well. But at least one party may finally be compensated less when they stop pretending to be industrious.
Andrew Cuomo is trying to play against type by making state drones contribute slightly more to their own retirements. It’s never too late to learn responsibility, except possibly in the case of our particularly impecunious state:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Friday changes to the state’s pension program that will require new public employees to work longer before receiving their full retirement benefits and to contribute more of their salaries to the system.
But things would only improve starting. . . now. Old-timers still get to play under the old rules. We have to pay for the sins of the past like a contemporary Clint Eastwood movie minus the gunplay:
Cuomo and other leaders, however, acknowledged that the pension reforms wouldn’t be a panacea. The new regulations only apply to new hires, so it could take decades for the savings to local governments to be realized.
He can blame all those state government before him who threw every bushel of cash they could at state workers, particularly his spendthrift daddy. If Kid Cuomo would like to maintain the delusion that he has a political future greater than his present lot in New York, he could semi-copy the incumbent president’s public relations strategy and write a book called Schemes of My Father.
Of course, the governor will just aim his ire at fat cats wearing top hats:
Pension costs for state and local governments have skyrocketed in recent years because of struggles on Wall Street. When the stock market was soaring, local governments paid little into the pension fund because the interest on the investments in the roughly $140 billion fund was at or exceeding estimates.
Who would think that an economy riddled with excessively oppressive state and federal involvement could ever falter? Even those on the government’s side acknowledge that ordering those last eight tequila slammers was a mistake, especially given how the state’s been operating on an empty stomach for decades:
The state’s rapidly growing pensions costs are one of the most expensive mandates for local governments. In 2002 pension payment from local governments were $1.4 billion and have grown to $12.2 billion in 2012, an increase of over 650%.
Their press release makes clear that our employees still won’t pay much, and those who get more will be punished with an escalating rate. At least they’ll finally know what life is like for everyone else in this progressively nightmarish state:
New Employee Contribution Rates: The new tier increases employee contribution rates in a progressive fashion to ensure lower paid state and local workers are not seriously affected…
These rates remain substantially lower than the large majority of similar state systems around the country.
Oh, because not catching up and making people pay for the privilege to eventually not work a good thing. The bums will have to motionlessly scowl after punching in for an extra year:
Increase of the Retirement Age: The pension reform law includes an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 63 and includes provisions allowing early retirement with penalties.
In addition to having to “work” until their early-mid-60s, state workers will supposedly not get empty calories for free any longer:
Protect Local Governments From State Pension Sweeteners: The new law requires the state to pre-fund any pension enhancers, ensuring that these costs are no longer passed to local governments.
We still fund them at any level, so don’t worry. But it may be too late to feign concern about ruining the economy by enriching the state’s retirees. The current Cuomo hopes the law will dump slightly less dirt on the pile in the living room. We won’t be at the mercy of unions. As much. Starting tomorrow.
At least the law is a tacitly belated admission of just how we ended up residing in a ditch. Still, the measure would only under even the most optimistic projections vault the Empire State slightly ahead of California and Illinois in the Bizarro sweepstakes to not be the state best known for existing entirely to subsidize its dreary public workforce.
Maybe we’ll get really lucky after making state workers cover a bit more of their costs and lose fewer congressional districts than America’s other most notorious workers’ paradises after the 2020 census. Finally, New York has established an attainable dream.
Born Differently
It sucks when any kid gets bullied. Why impose qualifications? Anyone who didn’t feel awkward at that age likely isn’t that fun now, as the outcasts and misfits of secondary school inevitably emerge as the interesting people after graduation.
But what about straight kids? Liberals continue to operate under the assumption that it’s only an emergency when young homosexuals get harassed at school:
A Buffalo high school senior got a chance to meet Lady Gaga and the launch of the Born This Way Foundation held at Harvard.
Vance Stinson, a da Vinci High School senior in Buffalo was selected to attend a workshop series and meet Lady Gaga at Harvard University earlier this week.
“Lady Gaga at Harvard University” may be civilization’s epitaph. Boys who like girls and vice versa want to be themselves, too, but defending them is a cause that just isn’t fashionable:
Stinson, 17, is president of the Gay/Straight Student Alliance at da Vinci. The Foundation is about youth empowerment. “Be brave, be who you are, don’t be afraid of what is going to happen to you, don’t be afraid to just step out of the box and be yourself,” said Stinson.
He sounds like a nice kid with good intentions. That doesn’t excuse how anti-bullying adults should consider every suicide a tragedy:
He was very touched and pushed forward to make a difference in his school, especially after the death of local teen Jamey Rodemeyer.
It’s horrible what Rodemeyer endured. But a lot of teens are treated like garbage by cruel classmates, and most of the targets learn to cope with it and even thrive despite or because of it. Let the bastards motivate you. Life is full of jerks who are nasty without cause, and dealing with them is a skill everyone must acquire no matter what genitalia they find appealing.
Rights aren’t the mere concern of the gay rights crew. They seek equal treatment when they’re not after special treatment. Meanwhile, they’re simply making confused kids feel even more mixed up by pressuring them to make declarations about their sexuality.
Or maybe you’re a homophobe if you think people are in control of their own decisions. The “NOH8” movement, which uses the power of text message-style spelling to badger anyone who dissents, serves as their nadir.
The duct-tapers presume anyone who thinks a marriage involves two genders can be dismissed as an enemy, as reasonable people cannot merely see issues differently. Why respect those who think that marriage is a cultural and religious institution based upon a man and woman bonding together when you can just brand them as nasty demons? They attempt to stifle opposition when they’re not being tolerant.
Ms. Gaga, who was most assuredly not born this way, should know better than anyone that people choose their own destinies. If the point is to be who you are, it should be a decision, not a realization. The woman born Stefani Germanotta ought to be aware of the ability to control one’s circumstances.
My, she is full of herself, especially for someone who shocks in lieu of entertaining. She ought to practice getting in tune with the goal of someday recording a song that isn’t forgotten the moment one is done listening to it.
For the thoughtless left, a bully is anyone who disagrees with you. That included people who dare to point out that Ms. Gaga’s syncopated paeans to disposable pop are crimes against sound.
She’d like to take a moment to lecture you about who deserves protection once she’s picked out something outrageous to wear. Pretend to be shocked in the same way the media pretends that she’s making high school tolerable.
Out of Control on Birth Control
Kathy Hochul is good at scaring old people and outraging religious people. Old religious people are probably both frightened and infuriated by her. No matter with whom she’s interacting, she clearly exhibits the exact sort of demeanor one wants in a public servant.
Her career began most despicably, unless there’s honor in casting those who want to save us from insolvency as pill-stealing villains. But at least Hochul’s employers are not letting her get away with it. We are reminded of our nation’s greatness when citizens can provide rather satisfying feedback to a haughty representative, although I’d like to hear some hissing, too:
Representative Kathy Hochul (D – 26th District) was booed at her own town hall meeting on Friday morning in Lancaster.
They’re mad over something as trifling as the liberty to not be compelled by the government to engage in conduct some find abhorrent:
The packed crowd was critical of Hochul for supporting President Obama’s plan to require religiously affiliated employers, such as hospitals and schools, to provide full contraception coverage to female employees.
It’s tough to imagine the primitive era where people bought their own contraceptives, as bourgeoisie notions about buying what you use are so antiquated. But didn’t the boo birds hear about the ratty cloak that changes nothing but the wording?
The plan was later altered. It now calls for those workers to get free contraceptive coverage from health insurers, thus sparing religious based groups, morally opposed to paying for birth control, from having to do so.
So, employers are still on the hook, unless insurers give anyone they want anything for free out of the goodness of their hearts. Guess which stimulator of economic doom the congresswoman supports:
When Hochul spoke in support of the President, the crowd booed. Many in the audience carried signs, including one that read: “Kathy why have you betrayed our Catholic institutions?”
It’s scary and disheartening to ponder how we ever got to having the government tells any business what they must provide, especially something that the private concerns in question find repellant. As of now, the employers are doing what they can to not be sent to Hell:
Pastor Leon Bienart of Our Lady of Pompeii Church also asked Hochul if the President or Congress consulted with Catholic bishops before they issued the policy.
I hope the bishop is willing to forgive her for her flippantly condescending response that was also wholly inaccurate:
Hochul replied that it was a good question and she would try to get an answer. The Congresswoman also replied this way to the questions and criticism “We’re not gonna agree on this one. I’m gonna tell you that I will stand for our religious freedoms. But I don’t see a conflict here. Now that there’s been an accommodation that says religious institutions do not have to provide these services. So we’re just going to have to disagree on that.”
We should be able to agree that they do not have to provide these services, except for how they do. Her convoluted mendacity can’t disguise how employers still must make birth control available.
The big alleged concession is that insurance companies will be the ones providing it, which means that employers are still ultimately going to have to pay for it. Make sure you take money from this pile and not that one.
In truth, the supposed deal creates a perverse loophole where the only people who get free contraceptives from their insurers are those employed by religions institutions. Let’s be charitable and call Hochul’s position disingenuous.
Many parishioners may normally be loath to tolerate political preaching at church. But those behind the pulpit have no choice when their rights are directly under fire. Making religions participate in something immoral is yet another joy of federal mandates in general and federal health in particular.
But at least one of the president’s morality-trampling flunkies is being made to sweat about it. After all, Hochul has her job only because Chris Lee photographed himself after misplacing his top. That led to a divided vote among fully-clad hopeful replacements in which Jack Davis’s Tea Party-faking knavery eventually enabled Hochul to indignantly infringe on your values.
She sure has been smug in flaunting her victory, especially considering she based her candidacy on telling seniors horror stories about their health care disappearing. But she’s squirming now as constituents realize who their partial-term representative really represents, namely those who dismiss your outmoded concept of having standards.
We can only hope she enjoys the rest of her truncated stay in office, as her alliance with those who determined that free birth control is somehow now a right is going to lead to a very short stay in Washington. She faces a delightfully tough test whether her district wises up or disappears.
In the blessedly short meantime, she’ll just have to deal with getting rightfully scolded. Or maybe her constituents are yelling “Hoooochul.”
The End of a Waterfront Affront
We may never know why the bus people owned waterfront land in the first place. But the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority is getting back to its roots, namely running the airport and supervising buses and Metro Rail trains that run just slightly behind schedule.
The NFTA may finally drop the pretense that they should be involved with sea travel. By doing so, they would be decently letting a company reap the benefits of doing the work involved with running a boat parking lot. They should take notes on how to make money so they’re not begging for us to again cover their losses:
The NFTA board of directors voted Thursday to negotiate a $3.5 million offer from Bear Development Group to purchase the small boat harbor and Gallagher Beach waterfront parcel.
You mean they are going to invest their own cash? Is that even legal? The private enterprise may even build neat stuff on the spot:
The proposal includes a commitment by Bear Development to pour an additional $15 million dollars into the land, including an expansion to the harbor break-wall and marine facilities as well as the construction of interior parks and an amphitheater.
An amphitheater would mean they could host rock and roll combos and make draught beer available for purchase during warmer months. The one thing the potential new owner would not be allowed to build is a wall:
The NFTA also stipulates that any agreement must promise to keep the property and boat facility open to the public.
Why would they want to cut off access, anyway? They have to want people there if they’re going to profit. Those looking for something to do near the lake would be just one beneficiary: a local agency is on the verge of finally doing something something wise. If the seemingly improbable sale comes to fruition, they would also add to their coffers from, of all things, a voluntary transaction:
Proceeds from the deal would go to stabilize the agency’s capital reserves.
We can only hope that government will get the hang of ridding themselves of stuff they shouldn’t own while simultaneously make money. It may be as likely as the president admitting that unemployment increased after the stimulus. But at least this property sell-off would be a good first step, even if they never take a second.
It’s past time to let a private company give running that edge of the city a shot. After all, it’s not as if they could do much worse than NFTA has. They apparently hoped that the sparseness would keep people from noticing.
People have a motive to keep what’s theirs running well. By contrast, a government entity doesn’t have to worry about going out of business: they’ll just turn to taxpayers and request a loan, if “request” means “demand” and “loan” means “wasted bailout.”
The prospective new owner would have every incentive to make the property enticing. The public may worry about a private company failing to make it work. But, if there’s value in the harbor, the plucky new investors will either make it a success or go out of business trying. And the latter would just allow another enterprising concern to give it a better try.
Anything that could enliven Buffalo’s waterfront is worth a shot, especially for the stretch past the pointlessly execrable Skyway. The exchange would create progress compared to what the government has, and has not, done with the tract.
You Only Have to Beat One Person
Not being Kathy Hochul could lead to winning a congressional seat. The insipidly prototypical liberal will face a challenge in the erstwhile NY-26 from someone who might be able to beat her by simply not being her.
Just like the biggest appeal for all the Republican doofuses aspiring to be president lies in not holding ideas that are quite as horrid as Barack Obama’s, the district’s House hopefuls ought to run on the opponent’s record. They’re best advised to go negative and stay there. Pointing out her dreary incompetence will be the key to removing Hochul before she can ever get used to calling it the 27th District.
Potential challengers can be remarkably flawed just as long as they are better than the alternative. Yay democracy! One of the specific contenders is pleased that some prominent politicians have recently announced publicly that they’ve joined his cheerleading squad. That should get them invited to all the coolest parties:
What’s the holdup? An aforementioned sadly familiar face is hoping to be the alternative option for the opposition:
What a non-political answer! This run-up is apparently stocked with petty intrigue, just in case you wonder why more people can’t get excited about who represents them:
Yeah, those insiders are dirtily rotten. Of course, Collins wasn’t an outsider when he was the country’s highest-ranking official, and he’s one now only because he lost. But circumstances are different now because it’s a few months later.
On the other hand, Bellavia didn’t help to keep this district out of Hochul’s hands in the first place. Specifically, he responded to Republican rejection in 2010 by endorsing demented old man Jack Davis to be the Fake Tea Party candidate. Bellavia was understandably upset, but aligning with the third-route dastard still wasn’t the healthiest way to respond.
The bypassed hopeful could at least have been classy enough to stay out of the fray for the party’s good. As it stands, Davis’s punk move helped allow the media to pretend that a lone special election to replace the scummy Chris Lee was somehow an emblematic statement against Paul Ryan’s plan to keep Medicare from wrecking the economy.
Bellavia still might be better than a nonchalant ex-executive who didn’t do much for the notion that “Republican” and “conservative” are synonyms. The GOP faithful know they’ll be at least somewhat disappointed in either possible nominee if they make it to Congress.
But that’s the chief benefit of declining to adulate politicians. Instead of feeling let down that, say, Obama turned out to be a Bizarro Midas who turns gold into dirt, Republicans know that politicians are only the most obvious embodiment of the human tendency to suck up for power. At this point, they’ll settle for representatives who vote to spend at a slightly less fantastical rate.
With that in mind, the non-Hochul possibilities would be marginally okay as long as expectations remain low. Either of the two who hope to be the hopeful would be disappointing but probably not quite as horrid.
It would probably be better to go for the war hero than the guy who managed to brick the layup last November. Of course, either would be preferable to the incumbent. Hochul’s greatest achievement has come in setting such low standards. Welcome to the America established by the man topping her ticket.