Bass Pro
It’s been two years since the announcement, and as usual, the cynics have again been proven right and reasonable. I used to be a proponent of the Bass Pro project because it’s not just $66 million in corporate welfare, and anyone who says so is merely engaging in rhetoric.
For the record, I’m no longer in favor of the Bass Pro project - nor am I opposed to it - due to the fact that the deal has changed significantly since the original MOU was signed back in the stone age. The delay in getting a final deal has been unreasonable. I can’t give an opinion on it because I don’t know what the hell is being discussed, I don’t know what the hold-up is, and I don’t know what the deal looks like anymore. The intramodal station seems to be gone. I have heard nothing more about the Great Lakes heritage museum. Will there still be a dock out back? Will the Aud stay or be torn down? We have no details as to what’s being discussed now, and as usual for New York State, it’s being held behind closed doors with not a ray of sunlight being shone on the process.
Yesterday, Free Buffalo held a facetious “celebration” of the Bass Pro store, right down to the hors d’oeuvres and non-alcoholic champagne. Free Buffalo doing its best Nelson Muntz impression.
I know that Free Buffalo opposed the public money being spent to fix up the Aud, tear down the Donovan building, and build a parking lot, but I’m somewhat at a loss as to the point of this particular stunt. If you’re opposed to it, you should be pleased that it hasn’t been built. Right? Why wasn’t there a similar “celebration” of the e-zone, or the Uniland megaproject on the Outer Harbor?
Ostrowski told Stefan Mychajliw:
“We are further away from a deal today, than we were two years ago. And Buffalo, not only cannot build a sporting goods store in two years, they can’t sign a contract to build a sporting goods store in two years. We have no problem with Bass Pro coming to Buffalo. We do have a problem with throwing 66-million dollars at them, when there are private companies in this area that are not getting that treatment,” added Ostrowski.
Good point. Maybe Dick’s and Gander Mountain should get $66 million, too. (Hey, this sarcasm thing is fun!)
How does he know where the deal stands? As the leader of a group that exists to promote Buffalo, I don’t understand why he would put on a stunt like this to mock the deal and ridicule the city of Buffalo. Buffalo already suffers from a bad self-image, and is already the butt of jokes nationwide. Why add to that? I think it’s sad, not something to mock.
Instead, if you disagree with the public money being spent on Bass Pro, go sign Buffaloi’s online petition. That is a far more positive way to express one’s disagreement with a controversial deal like Bass Pro, and doesn’t hold the City of Buffalo up to ridicule.
