Bruce Jackson writes in this week’s Artvoice:

The BuffaloPundit blog, anti-casino in the past, came out against the Wendt foundation on July 13. It’s posting for that day was headlined,“Margaret Went Foundation.” Under that was a pretty color picture of a casino at night with “Keeps Joel Rose” in the top left corner and “Up at night” in the bottom right corner. The remainder of the posting was a listing of fundable activities and grant recipients from the Wendt Foundation Web page and an attack on the foundation for its support of the lawsuit. On July 22 the site posted a photograph of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic under a caption saying, “Here’s what the Butcher of Sarajevo looks like nowadays.” Under the picture was a caption saying, “Rumor has it the Wendt Foundation is paying him $1,000,000 to fight a casino in downtown Buffalo.”

1. Thanks for the plug.

2. I was never anti-casino, per se. I was anti-carving-out-sovereign-exclaves-in-Buffalo-for-gambling-purposes. Even Skretny upheld the sovereign exclave bit. I’ve never subscribed to the moralistic or economic arguments against a casino.

3. My post spelled “Wendt” correctly - Artvoice didn’t. Although “Went” is clever.

4. The Karadzic crack - for the humor-challenged - was about likening Joel Rose’s beard to Karadzic’s hirsute disguise. Not likening CACGEC to Republika Srpska. I realize now that it could have been taken that way, and I’m sorry.

Perhaps the most surprising attack on the foundation was Michael Beebe’s July 20 article in the Buffalo News, which begins innocently enough with a listing of some Wendt grantees: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House and Graycliff, the Roycroft campus in East Aurora, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The foundation has funded, writes Beebe, “hundreds of social programs through churches, the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way. In each of the thousands of Wendt grants over the years, the philosophy has been the same: step in when government or other means of funding are not there, and do it as low-key as possible.”

Then Beebe’s tone changes: “Suddenly, though, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation finds itself at the center of controversy.”

How, exactly, is the Wendt Foundation in the “center of controversy”? Primarily by being in this article written by Beebe, which is headlined “Wendt in the middle of casino battle: Foundation aids foes with $1.9 million.” This is a newspaper article that defines and creates its own subject, a journalistic tautology.

Who is making the charges occasioning the article? Beebe refers to them only generically: “Talk-show hosts and bloggers have criticized the foundation for the $1.9 million it has spent so far funding the lawsuit against the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo.”

Talk-show hosts? Which ones? The rational ones or the fruitcakes? The analyzers or the frothers? Since when is criticism by a talk-show host the subject of a long piece by anybody in the news section of the Buffalo News? A dozen of those criticisms are aired on Buffalo talk radio every day and the News pays them no attention at all. Why now? Beebe told me in an email that he’d “heard snippets of Sandy Beach’s show…the day the casino decision came down” and that many of the blog comments he’d seen referred to “the same July 8 Sandy Beach show, in which they said he demonized the opposition.” The Buffalo News is going after the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation because Sandy Beach kvetched about it?

Bloggers? Beebe names none of them. Search the Buffalo blogs and you’ll find a lot of comments on the casino litigation (much of it by the same few people writing the same letters again and again), but hardly any, other than BuffaloPundit, going after the Wendt Foundation.

I’ll note for the record that Jackson doesn’t ever defend the Wendt Foundation’s use of $2 million to fund the casino lawsuit. Apart from confirming that how the foundation spends it money is up to its trustees, he only attacks its critics. I think that speaks for itself, and that the underlying point - that the Wendt Foundation certainly could have found better uses for $2 million - remains quite salient indeed.

More troubling, Jackson poses the suggestion that there is a conspiratorial, concerted effort to “Swiftboat” the Wendt Foundation.

Is all of this—Scott Brown’s WGRZ story (which has no ascriptions), Michael Beebe’s Buffalo News story (which has no ascriptions), the blog posts (nearly all of them under assumed names, many of them using the same language to make the same bogus charges again and again)—mere coincidence or is it a concerted effort to put public pressure on the one significant source of funding open to the casino opponents? Is it an expression of community concern or is it, at least in part, organized and deliberate? Is it swiftboating?

The most workable definition of “swiftboating” I’ve found is on the Urban Dictionary Web site: “A political ploy whereby allegations, falsehoods, exaggerations, or distortions are publicized to discredit a person or entity and have the intended effect that public attention is drawn to the ensuing controversy about the veracity of the allegations and away from some other political embarrassment.”

What a steaming load of horseshit. Bruce Jackson could have easily contacted me via email to ask me whether I had acted in concert with anyone in posting what I did about the Wendt Foundation, but did not. What I do on this site is comment on news events that interest me. I saw the Wendt Foundation story at WGRZ, heard them talk about it on WBEN, and decided to do a post about it because it troubled me, too. Jackson ought to retract his brain-farted supposition or else produce some evidence that I conspired with Channel 2 or WBEN to write something critical of the Wendt Foundation.

Also, in comments to the posted Artvoice piece, Joel Rose doesn’t understand how I know what keeps him up at night.

It’s a joke. It’s a picture of the proposed casino, and I suggest that it keeps you up at night.

I wonder what $2 million could have bought for the poor, underfunded, unconnected, and unprivileged in WNY.

Be part of the Obama campaign by participating in meetings in the area to help contribute to this year’s platform. All you have to do is show up and discuss the issues that matter to you, and this information is then passed along to the Obama campaign. It’s called “Listening to America“.

There is a Listening to America meeting tonight at Batavia’s City Centre tonight at 7:30 pm.

There is one in Buffalo tomorrow (the 24th) at 6pm at 927 Grant St. in Buffalo (the Polish Cadets Hall off the Scajaquada).

Some have misinterpreted my closing comments in this post:

One hopes that the preservation community (and community-at-large) might prioritize buildings that may not be designated landmarks, are endangered and need saving. Perhaps they could take lessons learned from the Livery fiasco and be more pro-active rather than re-active when it comes to saving buildings deemed important. These things shouldn’t have to happen at the point when emergency injunctive relief is required to prevent demolition. A plan. Priorities. It would do a lot to not only save buildings, but dramatically improve the reputation of the preservationist community. By being pro-active rather than re-active, they lose the “obstructionist” epithet altogether. Just a thought.

Some assail my comment because, they claim, preservationists are being “proactive”. I disagree. Calling the tip line isn’t enough. Calling your councilman isn’t enough. That may arguably be literally proactive, but it’s passive. I’ll let Prodigal Son explain:

The definition of pro-active is “getting involved before the building is crumbling.” I’m sure some well meaning people called the city tip line to complain about the Livery for years. But obviously, no support was galvanized until crisis mode hit. If anyone in the preservation community (whomever that is) could get everyone organized before it got to this point, that would be progress. Lets have a vigil, signatures, BRO articles and media frenzy about the AM&A’s building (to pick a random one). Doesn’t happen. Tim Tielman tried to get people organized for his “Save Our Churches” campaign, and that never got farther than one meeting.

Buffalo - a shrinking city of 280k-ish people - has at least two grassroots preservation activist organizations. Cynthia Van Ness’ Preservation Coalition and Tim Tielman’s Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture. The missions are similar enough that these groups could be joined. If governments can be expected to downsize in response to a shrinking population, so can nonprofit activist groups.

If they joined forces, then it would be fantastic if they selected, on an annual basis, five buildings that they want to save each year. They could hold fundraisers, teach-ins, solicit investment, file legal action, etc. Whatever it took to focus on private and public properties that are at imminent risk of destruction but are in some way worth preserving. They could set the agenda with respect to preservation issues and shed that public perception that they have of being reactionary obstructionists, and instead re-cast themselves as the proactive protectors of Buffalo’s heritage before the building starts crashing in around them or some owner decides he wants to raze it to add more surface parking.

Because in my mind, the heroes of the preservation community right now are named “Savarino” and “Termini” and “ESD”. Applying the law of Larry the Cable Guy - they get it done.

If the building is privately owned, such as Freudenheim’s Livery, the group could file for injunctive relief - the building is an imminent harm to its surroundings and is a public or private nuisance. If the building is privately owned, perhaps they could get the city to take the property by eminent domain for the greater public good. If the building is publicly owned, then they could partner with friendly engineering and architectural firms to draw up plans and raise funds to actually get the buildings structurally sound and rebuilt. It would be like Buffalo ReUse writ large - instead of saving fixtures from homes for resale, you save the building itself.

So, what would be the five most endangered buildings in 2008? Proactively prioritize, proselytize, and repair.

Outside Counsel takes a peek at the Livery Building, and makes an observation aside from the very poor condition of the building.

Buffalo is far from unique in its resistance to change– what makes this city unusual, I think, is that the reactionary mentality is so frequently what prevails. The ultimate result is decay, rather then renewal. There are a number of reasons for this– the declining population base means that (a) there is less pressure to change; (ii) scarcer resources to bring about change; and (3) the population is old, and conservative. There is a history of bad choices which brought about bad results. People are afraid to make more bad choices, and so make none. Leadership is in short supply– there does not seem to be a vision of Buffalo that anyone can agree on. Instead of planning on what to become, the population here is instead consumed by nostalgia.

That boils it all down in a nutshell quite nicely, no?

As a further observation:

There are neglected, decaying old buildings everywhere in Buffalo, of course but it only gets attention when it happens in white, affluent neighborhoods- and those are pretty much the neighborhoods with the clout to block development. An interesting paradox, when you think about it: the desirable neighborhoods for development are the ones that are most likely to resist it, and the best equipped to resist it as well. Meanwhile, east of Main Street, the buildings just fall, like trees in the forest.

It’s a pity. The building would have been an attractive apartment conversion. Instead it has been falling apart for years, a roost for pigeons, and no doubt other vermin as well. It is sweet that the neighborhood wants to save it now, although it is worth noting that nobody is stepping up with their own money to do it.

Seriously, what do we do with this?

It’s easy to say “save it”.

It’s hard to figure out exactly how. Or who.

If you’re down with the NFTA naming the city’s international gateway after one of its most prominent and well-respected native sons, click here.

Last week, an old Buffalo building began to crumble and fall. It wasn’t hit by lightning or a Cessna - it began to crumble from its own weight due to years, if not decades’ worth of neglect from the owners, who had it on the market for $400,000 - a price that the market evidently couldn’t bear. There aren’t too many people around in town who can throw down $400 large for a building and then invest a like amount to shore it up, much less renovate it. So, as usual in Buffalo, another building bites the dust.

Also as usual, a band of reactivists gets vocal, files for injunctive relief, and decries how the demolition of the building would ruin the city, “destroy the fabric of the community”, etc. Too late for all that now. Unless you have the scratch to buy it and fix it yourself, it’s probably coming down. Yes, the owners should be required to pay for the demolition. In a perfect world, they’d pay for the neglect that was the proximate cause of the demolition. But in Buffalo, the basic shoring-up work needed to keep an allegedly $400,000 building standing isn’t done. It’s permitted to crumble, because there is no incentive not to.

The grassroots effort to save the building has a website here. I find it pitiful and despicable that a group of regular citizens has to raise money to help save a building privately owned by a tone-deaf owner who is wealthy and doesn’t seem to give a crap. The photo used above is taken from their website.

Buffalo Geek and I spoke about this on Friday, and his notion is that the preservationist community, which is seen as somewhat of a joke outside the Elmwood/Buffalo Rising bubble, would do itself a lot of favors if, instead of just being loud and obnoxious, it took action once in a while. His idea is that they should solicit some like-minded local charities and otherwise raise $1 million per year, and select up to five buildings to save every year. They could not only make their point, but actually do the work. How? Well, maybe the city takes the buildings by eminent domain and transfers title to the preservationist non-profit for one dollar. The work is done, and the building is marketed as a fundraising vehicle for the next round of rehabilitations. It’s one thing to hold rallies and hold up signs after it’s too late. It’s another to actually do it. Like, say, Buffalo ReUse does. There are tax credits and other incentives available for these rehabs. If the preservationists don’t know how to get them, no one does.

So, the bubbleistas hold up signs decrying the newest pair of demons, Nina and Bob Freudenheim. They allege that the couple, whose company owns the Livery Building, should be required to pay for the demolition. Yes, and they should have been required to maintain the building to code, too. They’re right, of course, but it’s too little, too late.

The allegation that the demolition of the building will ruin the “fabric of the community”? Well, I’d argue that a neighborhood and the people in it make up the fabric of a community - not buildings, no matter how old or pretty. But when the Elmwood Hotel at the corner of Elmwood and Forest was being proposed in 2005, Nina Freudenheim, who lives on tony Penhurst and (one would surmise) is a person of some means who could have afforded to do the very bare minimum to shore up the Livery building, was among the plaintiffs who sued to block the hotel. The argument given by hotel opponents also echoed the “fabric of the community” arguments we often hear when this sort of thing goes on. It’s all somewhat ironic.

The renovation of these beyond-help old buildings which teeter between demolition for safety and preservation for history, would happen far more often if we had an economy that worked. If we had more and more widespread wealth, we’d have more people willing and able to do this kind of work. If we had a growing population and more vibrant economy, the preservation of buildings like the Livery would be a foregone conclusion.

Whatever happens to the Livery, one hopes that it might be a wake-up call to loads of people. There should be protests and placards against dumb policies, laws, and politicians who help perpetuate this state of affairs in which we find ourselves. If buildings are worth saving, then action trumps reaction.

It’s not so much about the buildings - it’s about the people.

LITERACY VOLUNTEERS ANNOUNCES NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO BECOME VOLUNTEERS!

INFO SESSIONS PLANNED FOR THOSE WITH DESIRE TO HELP FOLKS LEARN TO READ AND/OR SPEAK ENGLISH-SESSIONS PLANNED IN TONAWANDA AND AMHERST TOO!

WHAT: Literacy Volunteers will hold “Power of Words” Information/Orientation sessions to showcase the organization and its’ multi-faceted work, and to present volunteer opportunities that are screaming to be filled. We currently have 63 students waiting to be matched with a tutor.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 14th at 8 am at LV

Thursday, May 22nd at 7 pm at Brighton Place 999 Brighton Tonawanda

Wednesday, May 28th at 6 pm at LV

Thursday, May 29th at 7pm at Barnes & Noble, 1365 Niagara Falls Blvd.

WHERE: Literacy Volunteers Headquarters (LV) 1313 Main Street at the corner of Riley/Parking lot and entrance in the back

***UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED such as May 22 and May 29***

WHO: All those who want to do something positive-that will truly help turn someone’s life around!

WHY: Because if you don’t do it who will?????

Because 30% of the City of Buffalo and 20% of Erie County are functionally illiterate!! 43% of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. 76% of adults on public assistance are functionally illiterate. Recent studies indicate that over half of Buffalo’s children enter kindergarten without the necessary skills to succeed. Our students achieve success as a result of our services.

For more information, contact Tracy Diina at 876-8991 or 208-1064

www.literacybuffalo.org

Buffalo’s unofficial Convention Center has a full slate of events scheduled for this year:

A quick reminder that the WNY Coalition for Progress will be hosting the:

Third Annual Buffalo State of the Union Watch Party
Founding Fathers Pub
75 Edward Street in Buffalo
8pm on Monday the 28th

There will be food available (and a donation to defray that cost is most appreciated), and cash bar. We will again play State of the Union BINGO!

Next year, someone else’ll be giving this speech. Savor.

Photo credit: Calanan

Two commenters in this thread, responding to the video contained therein, complained about it in an unexpected way. Paul Francis, whose arrogance and condescension know no bounds or apparent justification, wrote:

This forum is Buffalo’s official sounding board for mere commentators whose self-annointed pursuit is bashing the folks who do actually work hard advocating for the city. These commentators - oh wait, pundits - then sheepishly shrug their shoulders when those advocates savor a victory. Hopefully this knock on the Waterfront Coalition is one of those instances.

Hell, some bloggers are actually out fighting for this town. None here!

The notion that I’m not out fighting for this town is the biggest pile of horseshit I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t mind taking that hit from someone who actually has a record of some sort of activism that trumps mine. But who the hell is Paul Francis? What’s his record? Who is he to dismiss my record? For four years - a time when there were only a small handful of blogs in this town - I’ve been promoting the city and talking it up.

Harvey Garrett has also engaged me in comments and in email, and we’ve gone back and forth and reached stalemate with respect to the merits of Route 5, but he is very offended by the satirical video because it mocks people who are concerned citizens. He writes,

What happened to you two (and WNYMedia)?

Now, if you’ve already been to Geek’s site, and are thinking, “Pundit’s ripping off Geek’s idea“, you’re kinda right. But I haven’t really responded on my own terms, so apologies for the duplication.

Harvey tells me that we crossed the line. That we “took it too far”. I responded, “Being racist or defamatory or bigoted would be taking it too far. Making fun of a group’s political position is not.”

Here’s how I responded to Harvey’s query as to what “happened”:

Or would, say, Tim Tielman or the Riverkeeper enjoy it if I started a coalition calling for the immediate implementation of Bass Pro on the Central Wharf building in spite of the 2004 master plan, etc., because I think that’s a better idea. Or would they mock the living shit out of me? Because if I did do that, believe me - they wouldn’t deign to call me a “concerned citizen” or “activist”.

Like a lot of people in this town, I get up in the morning, get my kids ready for school, say goodbye to my family, go to work, do the best job I can, have lunch, go back to work, do a good job, drive home, see my wife & kids, play with my kids, have dinner, watch TV, pay my taxes, pay my bills, do chores, go to sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. I could just end it there.

But I also get active in the community. I singlehandedly organized a well-received & attended discussion panel on Bass Pro. I helped organize screenings and panel discussions on Darfur, on the media in America, on the future of politics, on Wal-Mart’s affect on communities, on the Iraq War. We co-sponsored “The Cost”. On top of that, I sacrificed a great deal of time and money to run for elected office, something from which I’m still recovering, and I’m considering becoming active in Clarence town government.

That might seem like a weak resume to some who do far more good than I, but I’m as much an activist as any of the people on that waterfront coalition, and through the work that I’ve done and the things that I’ve advocated for, I have earned the right to tell it like I see it, and to criticize whatever I feel like.

Others have suggested that this is merely part of an ongoing, nonexistent war between WNYMedia and Buffalo Rising.

Let’s examine.

Buffalo Rising is a local media outlet which, like the Buffalo News, is not above reproach or criticism. When they post something I find silly or comment-worthy, I’m going to do so. Buffalo Rising generally eschewed politics throughout its history. Until recently, that is. In the last couple of months, it has become the Komsomolskaya Pravda - the official organ - of the Waterfront Coalition. Buffalo Rising has staked out and promoted a distinct position on a political issue. I have found the arguments made and the language used to oftentimes be worthy of critique. I have commented there, and here, about it. Because I generally comment about politics and media in Buffalo, what Buffalo Rising has done with the Waterfront Coalition is, essentially, a perfect storm of comment-worthy material on this issue. End of story. Anyone reading more into it is flat-out wrong.

So, yes the video was silly, but we thought it was funny. We fully expected that many people would find it dumb and unfunny, and that’s fine. Hell, half the skits that make air on SNL suck eggs. The notion that we shouldn’t have done it because it’s mean to well-meaning people is unpersuasive.

You like books, I like books. (Currently, I’m reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, which is a nice break for a season-long read of Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich).

If you’re inclined to do some Christmas shopping at Barnes & Noble, bring along one of the vouchers here, and part of the proceeds from your sale will go to the Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo and WNY. It’s a great organization that teaches kids and adults to read. The price of your book purchase won’t be any higher.

This is good between December 16 - 23rd at the Barnes & Noble locations on Niagara Falls Boulevard and on Transit Road, near Main.

One of the things I’m most proud of doing is teaming up with my friend, Amy Maxwell, to return Santa’s Park (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) to Chestnut Ridge Park. We did it in 2005 and 2006 under the combined umbrellas of the WNY Coalition for Progress and Revitalize Buffalo, ensuring that an annual family event was not put to death by the budget crisis. In the process, we raised thousands of dollars and a half-ton of food for the Food Bank of WNY.

We decided last year that we’d hand off the responsibility to a new group, and the Verizon Pioneers - a nonprofit group of Verizon employees and retirees - stepped in.

Click here to see the flyer for this year’s Santaland event. They need volunteers, and they need to spread the word. Please consider helping out, and/or posting it to your site. It will be December 8 & 9 and 15 & 16 from 10am - 4pm, and all proceeds and donations will go to benefit domestic violence shelters throughout WNY.

It’s a panel discussion! It’s a documentary!
Panel discussion! Documentary!
Panelmentary!
Docuscussion!

The WNY Coalition for Progress is partnering with WNYMedia.net to bring you:

BASS Pros & Cons : A Debate about the Canal Side Project

The panel discussion and public forum will take place on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 6:30 PM, and be held at the beautiful Montante Center at Canisius College (2001 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14208)

The panel will feature participants advocating for both sides of the issues, and our hope is that the two sides can reach consensus on certain issues and have a meaningful, honest, and thoughtful discussion about their differences.

The event will be moderated by WGRZ TV-2’s Stefan Mychajliw

In addition, be sure to catch WNYMedia’s Documentary, “Bass Pros & Cons: A History of the Bass Pro Project” June 18 & 19, 2:30 pm on MyTV 49.

On her stream/podcast, Michele Johnson will hold “activist hour”, featuring Bob Franke from the Grant/Ferry Association, Michael Gainer from Buffalo ReUse, Cindy of the Cazenovia St Block Club, Jessica B will talk about Buffalo Old Home week schedule of Events, and Michelle will update us on what Broadway Fillmore Alive is up to.

As an added feature, Michele will feature new music from TRONEZ.

Buffalo Rising has started a petition in favor of he proposed Park Lane Tower condominiums at Gates Circle, proposed by Uniland.

The link to the petition is here.

My opinion on the project? Build it.

My opinion on the petition? How pitiful it is that a grassroots petition drive is necessary in support of a multimillion dollar project proposed by a huge local developer to build condos that I couldn’t afford.

The Western New York Coalition for Progress in conjunction with WNYMedia.net will be hosting a community forum and panel discussion on the Canal Side / Bass Pro project. I don’t want to divulge too many details right now about it, but mark your calendars for 6:30 on June 20th at Canisius College’s Montante Center.

We hope to have a balanced panel of Canal Side / Bass Pro proponents and opponents who will discuss their views and take audience questions (off of index cards, to prevent filibustering and to keep it all moving.) The discussion will be moderated by Channel 2’s Stefan Mychaijliw.

The hope is that we can get people in the same room to discuss the new project, how it differs from the 2004 master plan, and whether there is some consensus or common ground that can be achieved to prevent a repeat of the litigation that ensued 7 or so years ago over a prior Empire State Development proposal for that location.

If you’re interested in helping out in some way, we’ll be holding an informal organizational meeting at WNYMedia offices (67 Elmwood) on Thursday at 6pm. RSVP via Meetup.com.

On Sunday June 10th at the Johnson Park Green (Off S Elmwood next to Hutch Tech) “Pennies in the Park Flea Market”

Presented by The West Village Renaissance Group

Call Anne at 697-1287 to reserve your space now - Only $10 per 10×10 foot area. Kids spaces are free!

Or just come on down and spend money!

All Proceeds to benefit the WVRG and its programs & projects in the Historic West Village District

Be sure to check out the top of the show when Chris Smith aka BuffaloGeek calls in to talk Buffalo Old Home Week. 10am - 12pm Sunday on WBEN 930-AM.

The WNY Coalition for Progress and AmeriCorps participate at Gallagher Beach.

Each year the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper coordinates shoreline clean-ups on the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Cazenovia Creek, Scajaquada Creek, Buffalo Creek, Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda Creek, and Cayuga Creek.

The WNY Coalition for Progress will be participating in this annual event for the second year in a row. The Coalition’s efforts will take place as follows:

CLEANUP SITE: Gallagher Beach

DATE and TIME: Saturday, April 21, 2007 12pm-2pm

MEETING PLACE FOR VOLUNTEERS: Parking Lot

Please come help us in this spring’s cleanup by RSVPing here or e-mailing us at environment@wnyprogress.org.

To see a summary of what she discussed, click here to visit the WNY Coalition for Progress’ weblog, the Progress Report.

She specifically addressed several of the proposals and themes that Giambra covered in his speech last week.