Hibbard’s in Lewiston?

Anderson’s? Tasty Treat in Lockport?

Rochester favorite Abbott’s in Bill Gray’s in Clarence?

I love Hibbards, and make a point to stop every time we’re up in that neck of the woods in summertime. I tried Abbott’s for the first time the other day, and it was magnificent.

As seen on Drudge.

WTF kind of advert is this?

All Things Buffalo gives us a glimpse at the antithesis of the Buffalo Blogosphere. Hint: Zubaz. Mullet. Channel 2 viewer forum.

A new addition to the network is Buffalo Expatriate, which touches mostly on international affairs. The Government of Sudan has been ordered to pay almost $8 million to the families of sailors killed in the attack on the USS Cole. Darfur. Pakistan. Expat’s got everything.

Michelle’s back online with updates and radio shows. Give her some love here.

Red’s been on the Thruway often lately, and he offers his three rules for Thruway driving. Number 2 shouldn’t be a rule - but a law.

Shades of Gray asks you to guess which dilapidated Main Street he displays pictures of. The answer’s a bit shocking.

PaulDub links to Jimmy Griffin’s website, which features things Jimmy wrote as recently as 10 years ago. Go get ‘em, Jimmy!

Don’t forget to check out the Sports Road Trip, which recently ported itself over to WNYMedia.

Urban Denizen challenges the oft-repeated notion that Buffalo is one of the “best-planned” cities in the history of the world.

The Smart is a unique two-seater that was born out of a joint venture between Swatch and Mercedes-Benz. Swatch dropped out of the program soon thereafter, and the tiny carlets have been zipping around European cities for about 7 years now. The rationale behind the Smart was uniquely European. In Europe, cars have historically been smaller than in North America primarily because gas prices are so high, but also because European cities are rather dense and not always hospitable to larger vehicles.

Smart is designed to be parked nose-in when most other cars are parallel parked. It makes the most sense in an urban environment. Take it on the open road, and it becomes a pretty silly proposition, in spite of its reasonably good mileage. It is not a road-going car.

The smart fortwo will be launched in the USA with gasoline engines. The three cylinder engine has capacity of one litre and delivers 45 kW, 52 kW or 62 kW (61 hp, 71 hp or 84 hp). At the time the article was written the exact US engine model has not yet been determined. The vehicle has a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour. All engines are linked to an automated manual five-speed transmission from Getrag.

Smart has not been a big success for the company until recently known as Daimler-Chrysler, and a planned entry to the US market with a crossover was nixed in 2005, and the Mitsubishi-built forFour was quickly killed off. The forTwo is rather expensive for its size and utility - about $15,000, given that you can get a base Kia or Hyundai for a lot less.

In addition, most Smarts in Europe and Canada are sold with a tiny common-rail diesel engine, which gives it upwards of 60 MPG. The diesel will not be available in the US when Smart fortwos go on sale. We will instead get a 3-cylinder gas engine that will get about 40 MPG.

A Toyota Yaris pulls 40 MPG for about $11,000 and is on sale now. It even has a back seat.

Buffalo Rising posted about the Smart and a preview event that Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo is putting on. This comment stood out:

This is a fun car to drive. I had one for a couple of months when I was in Europe for business last year. Mercedes has had a difficult time bringing these cars to America, primarily because of the strong lobbying efforts of our legacy car manufacturers and labor unions. They pose a threat to the status-quo in American autombiles, they are the antithesis of the Hummer or Yukon.

I am unaware of there being any sort of “lobbying effort” to prevent the importation of the Smart by “legacy” car manufacturers or labor unions. Firstly, Smart was until recently owned by the same company that owns Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. It doesn’t get much more “legacy” than that. Furthermore, while Smarts are the “antithesis of the Hummer or Yukon” (one’s a marque, one’s a model - but who’s counting), the reason they haven’t been imported to the US is that they’ve had disappointing sales in Europe, and the little company has never been profitable. Why expand into a very competitive market with a strange French-made car that is only practical in the densest of US cities when it can’t even perform well in its core market?

Silly people sometimes say silly things.

With that said, Smart will do well in cities such as Boston, New York, Seattle, and San Francisco where traffic is dense and parking is at a super-premium. It makes absolutely zero sense in Buffalo. Get a Yaris, Kia Rio, or Hyundai Accent - the last two cost less than $10,000, get great mileage, have back seats, and even a trunk.

If you want mileage, you can always opt for a hybrid Prius or Civic, or wait a year and pick up a proper diesel, which will easily top 40 MPG, and approach 50-60 MPG.

That picture was taken during Tsarist Russia by a man named Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, who lived from 1863-1944.

It was not digitally painted or otherwise colorized. It is a primitive color photograph using a cumbersome, but effective method detailed here.

Essentially, it was a three-lensed camera that took a black and white image with a red, blue, and green filter over each lens. When the images are developed, they appear mildly different. When a red, then green, then blue filter are placed over the image, the colors appear. The photograph above had this done with digital filters instead.

But what is so striking is the full, bright color of a 100-odd year-old image which really brings that period to life more than any black and white image can do. This is unbelievably cool.

From Channel 2, the first poll is little more than a beauty pageant:

What is you opinion of Chris Collins?
8% Favorable
9% Unfavorable
25% Neutral
58% Unfamiliar
Error + or - 4.7%

83% have no opinion of Chris Collins. He’s got a lot of money. He might want to start spending it.

What is you opinion of James Keane?
19% Favorable
21% Unfavorable
32% Neutral
29% Unfamiliar
Error + or - 4.7%

Keane’s numbers are pretty even across the board, which means it takes less effort for him to bump his positives.

What is your opinion of Paul Clark?
28% Favorable
15% Unfavorable
26% Neutral
32% Unfamiliar
Error + or - 4.7%

Clark is running lots of TV ads which are all positive, so naturally his positive numbers are up - not a moment too soon, considering the primary is about 6 weeks away.

What is you opinion of Jimmy Griffin?
35% Favorable
37% Unfavorable
19% Neutral
9% Unfamiliar
Error + or - 4.7%

Everyone knows Jimmy Griffin, and the like/dislike is in a statistical dead heat.

Do you feel you have a good choice between qualified candidates in the Erie County Executive election? Or not?

36% Have a Good Choice
46% Do Not
18% Not Sure
Error + or - 4.7%

46% wish someone else was in the race right know, and only 36% are happy with Collins/Keane/Clark/Griffin. Ugh.

I have to confess that I kind of don’t get why it matters whether Paul Clark uses an 89 cent pen or not. In fact, it sounds like he got ripped off, and calls his fiscal conservatism into question. The “89 cent pen” is a Paper Mate Write Bros. Stick pen, most likely medium blue. That pen is available at Office Max at $1.09 for a dozen. That’s nine cents. Why is a CPA paying 89 cents for a 9 cent pen? Is the county doing the same thing?

1. High Speed Rail around Lake Erie
You know how Joe Bruno is extraordinarily excited about building a high-speed rail line between Buffalo and New York City, essentially tracking the Thruway? He thinks it might help revitalize upstate to enable travelers to zip alongside the Thruway at speeds approaching 200 MPH.

Bruno, of course, can watch the whole thing from his helicopter.

But what we really ought to build is a high-speed rail line between Toronto, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Erie, and Cleveland - possibly even making it a loop around to Detroit and London, ON.

Why, Pundit? You ask.

2. Welcome Centers
Right off the QEW in Fort Erie is a brand-new Ontario welcome center. Right off the 420 in Niagara Falls is an Ontario welcome center. Right off the QEW in Niagara-on-the-Lake, right before the skyway, is an Ontario welcome center. They all are jam-packed with information about the various provincial regions, give out free maps, change money, and they even have toilets.

A visitor coming to the US from Canada won’t see a similarly convenient welcome center until the Pembroke or Angola rest areas on the Thruway, depending on their direction of travel. You want to draw people to Wright buildings in Buffalo, trendy restaurants in Allentown, or Little Italy in Niagara Falls, USA? How about a welcome center right off the I-190 within a few miles after crossing the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge? I’m sure one could be located in a conspicuous and easy-to-reach spot off the Peace Bridge, as well. The lack of effective marketing to day trippers and other tourists who are flocking here due to our weak dollar is shameful.

3. High-speed toll lanes on the Thruway.
The 407 in Toronto is a privately owned toll road. It is ridiculously expensive, but it uses a revolutionary toll collection system. It will read a dedicated transponder, or it will take a picture of your license plate. Either way, at no time do you need to slow down to pay the toll - the system sends a bill for the toll to the address where your car is registered. There’s sort of no excuse for the Thruway not to use a similar system. It would ease the traffic flow by leaps and bounds, and might even obviate lots of the opposition to relocation of the Williamsville tolls eastward to Newstead or Pembroke.

4. The Peace Bridge

5. Canal Side

6. Something on the Outer Harbor

7. Not so much built, but for God’s sake, would it kill the DOT to synchronize traffic lights on major thoroughfares such as Delaware Avenue and Genesee Street?

Sunday the 29th on WBEN AM-930 from 10am to 12pm, the Professor’s in-studio guest will be Sheriff Tim Howard, who will no doubt explain why he shouldn’t hire some more deputies for the county jail and holding center to cut down on extremely high overtime expenses. I’ll call in around 10:15-ish.

Channel 2 will be running a poll on the CE race tomorrow, but let’s instead examine the photographs that WGRZ is using on its website:

Paul Clark has been endorsed by the Independence Party executive committee, but not the Democratic Party. In this photograph, he looks as if he’s eating lunch, or beginning the word, “but”. The legal books behind him say, “erudite”, but the eyes say, “sleepy”.

Chris Collins, the lone Republican candidate, appears here in shirtsleeves, presumably behind his desk. He looks surprised, as if someone has smacked him across the back of the head with a mallet. That’s also quite an abnormally fat knot in his tie.

Ex-Mayor and ex-councilman Jimmy Griffin. His peers moved to Florida years ago, yet he’s still here, and he’s still gunning for public office. While many Buffalonians have fond thoughts about Jimmy, one look at him and you don’t exactly think to yourself, “now this is the guy who embodies new ideas and Erie County’s future”. As loved and loveable as Jimmy might be, his time has passed, and at this point his candidacy is little more than a novelty act. Like Beverly Sills, he should have quit in his prime.

Jim Keane. Endorsed Democrat. He actually couldn’t have asked for a better composed picture. His sign is behind him, reinforcing his identity, and he’s got a big chunk of American flag in the background, too. The picture shows him about to answer a question, and it doesn’t look particularly foolish.

So, I predict Keane 35% - Collins 35% - Clark 25% - Griffin 5% based solely on this facile analysis.

Today in Niagara Square, a unique protest was supposed to take place called “We Miss Their Footsteps: A Silent March” to call attention to, and honor, the victims of homicides in Buffalo. The event was filmed for a new film that is being shot called “Lessons from Homicides: The Buffalo Story”, directed and produced by Dr. Peter K.B. St. Jean and “Quality of Life Films Productions”. Unfortunately, the march was rained out, and there’s no word whether it will be rescheduled. WNED says:

The demonstration would have featured loved ones of homicide victims marching around the square, as well as empty pairs of shoes to represent the slain.

A brochure sets forth the documentary’s mission:

Since the year 2000, there have been over 400 homicides in the city of Buffalo, NY. During almost every homicide funeral or prayer vigil, people insist that the deaths were not in vain. In this documentary, I search for the evidence that those deaths are not in vain. I also ask, what are the lessons from all those homicides?

I took the family to the Science Museum today, and there is an exhibit of photography by East Side artists. In the corner, a trailer of “Lessons from Homicides” was playing, and I stood there watching it for quite some time. It’s tragic and riveting, and I’m eager to see it when it’s released in October. It’s still looking for funding (tax-deductible), so contact the producers at lessonsfromhomicides[at]gmail.com.

The news that American Axle’s Buffalo plant will be closing shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The real surprise is that there is any such large-scale manufacturing still going on at all. Long ago, these kinds of jobs were great to have - few skills and no education were needed, and the pay was often very good. But as the economy at home moves towards services and technology, we need to adapt, but fast.

The confirmation of the plant idling came during a conference call about earnings. The company said second-quarter profit jumped 67 percent as it cut expenses and grew business abroad.

Net income rose to $34 million, or 64 cents a share, from $20.4 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Sales rose 4.8 percent to $916.5 million.

American Axle is reaping the benefits of a new labor contract in North America that saved it more than $15 million in the quarter, as it expanded lower-taxed sales outside the U.S., according to Bloomberg News.

Is it evidence that free trade is bad? Well, it’s bad for these 650 people, and the inevitable shuttering of the building itself. It explains why many Democrats are rethinking free trade altogether. For most businesses, however, the bottom line is all that matters, and if an axle can be built in Mexico and imported for a fraction of the cost of building it in Buffalo, then that’s what’s going to happen. Look at the numbers - American Axle is doing very well by closing American factories. Consumers don’t complain, because they benefit, too.

Manufacturing isn’t going to come back to Buffalo in any significant way. American Axle isn’t the first to close, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be the last.

Official Pictures are here. Overall, I think it’s executed quite nicely even though I think the rear doors are a bit busy.

Light posts. Enjoy other WNYMedia.net sites today. Check the sidebar to the left.

Are creepy

It has been proven that the county’s Comptroller, Legislature, and Executive were right and the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority was wrong. The state-created body that was supposed to keep an eagle eye on the county’s finances, and which voted itself into a control period earlier this year, has failed to the tune of almost $10 million with one fell swoop.

Remember the deal whereby Xspand would come in and handle the county’s new and older tax delinquencies, netting the county a cool $36 million? The county received only two bids, the control board squawked, ordering the county to go back to the market and get more, presumptively better, bids. They did. It did not go well.

Over the next several weeks, the county followed the control board’s direction, placing a new “request for proposals” in the Bond Buyer, a newspaper serving the financial community, and in the State Contract Reporter, read by companies seeking government business in New York.

Though they cast a wider net, county officials by last week’s deadline received just two new offers. One came from Xspand, the other from American Tax Funding.

The same two companies that made offers earlier this year. Xspand’s offer was $10 million less than its previous offer. That is an abject failure. Yet control board chairman Anthony Baynes doesn’t see any problem whatsoever, and suggests that the county just wait it out instead.

Poloncarz says he dislikes both deals and might not recommend either to the Legislature. It might make more sense, he said, to soup up the county’s in-house tax-collection effort by hiring more people. Then, over the next several years the county might draw in the $36 million that Xspand was once willing to pay, he said.

“This is an example of the fiscal authority not trusting the leadership of Erie County,” Poloncarz said, “telling us to redo everything and as a result getting a much worse deal.”

Baynes said Wednesday that county leaders should not accept either offer if they don’t like them.

“I would tell them to leave it on the table for the next county executive,” he said. “Most counties in the country that are using companies like this are doing so because they are desperate.”

What evidence is there of that? This county is somewhat desperate, for sure, but should the control board be thwarting its efforts to right itself? Aside from saying “no” to things, the control board hasn’t done a single thing to improve the county’s fiscal picture whatsoever. Instead, it has done harm. There should be a hippocratic oath for control boards. $36 million so a private company can do the county’s tax delinquency collections and foreclosures for it. That’s what the county has forfeited, and the control board doesn’t care.

He said potential bidders might have been scared off because Xspand had an edge; it has done business with Erie County for years and had inspected the roughly 8,000 properties with at least one tax lien placed on them.

“No other company wanted to invest any money into this deal knowing that Xspand had the upper hand,” Baynes said, adding that county officials only placated the control board by seeking more offers.

“Obviously they were wrong in not putting it out to bid in the first place,” he said.

Some county officials see this as a turning point with the control board.

“The governor should dissolve the control board,” said Real Property Tax Director Joseph Maciejewski, “just for the fact they have cost us at least $7 million, and $450,000 to $600,000 in interest.”

The county’s options now are: 1. Accept a significantly less attractive deal with the same companies that bid earlier this year; or 2. Hire more personnel (at significant cost) in order to handle collections and foreclosures for the county.

Who elected these guys?

I posted my campaign announcement and “Steve” jacked the thread with only the third comment.

But I was hoping the equal opportunity snark you’ve exhibited on this site might have carried over to your campaign approach. THAT would have been something unique in local politics.

Here’s what I wrote on July 16th regarding Bruno’s airplane rides and Spitzer’s noise about them:

You know what, though? Who cares? The political sniping between the governor and legislative leader is of little consequence to me, nor (probably) to you. It’s all inside baseball Albany nonsense. If anything, it just makes our state government a bit more of a laughingstock. Whilst symbolically ugly, Bruno’s use of choppers to go to fundraisers is hardly the kind of thing that gets the public riled up or will lead to the further decline of New York State.

I wish the kids would grow up and concentrate on important things. And no, by the way, I couldn’t care less if New York City gets congestion pricing or not.

OK, so now Spitzer and his staff get a dressing down because they shouldn’t have used the Bruno airplane data for political purposes.

So, permit me to repeat myself: Who cares? If, in your opinion, Spitzer’s dressing down and apology and suspension of aides is somehow going to change things for Western New York, then I think you’re wrong. I think the whole thing is a convenient way for both sides to divert attention from Albany inaction on important things.

Then Steve repeats:

I hope I’m wrong, but If this is an indication of a tendancy toward being thin skinned, you may want to re-think
running for office.

Gee, I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to just bend over and beg your forgiveness for not posting about what you think is important. Has nothing to do with thin skin, but has everything to do with responding to blatant foolishness. But I’m sure that everyone is thrilled that this all will do little more than cost countless more apparently limitless state dollars. This blog is my personal blog - not a campaign site.

And cue Tatonka about feeding the trolls.

After the jump.

Anyone else get Reynolds’ robo-call today? He’s very concerned that you’re concerned about…

…taxes.

Give me a break. Is that the best the Congressman-formerly-known-as-Mr.-Clout can do?

In other Reynolds news, back in May 2007, he voted against an amendment to a bill amendment that Louise Slaughter introduced which ultimately led to the delay of the passport rules for travelers to and from Canada. From the Buffalo News of May 10, 2007 (in archives):

The Slaughter provisions require the government to do a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the border identification system before it can be installed. Trials of the passport card would also be conducted prior to implementation.

Her proposals would allow a six-month grace period for travelers who did not have the required ID cards.

Under present law, Americans entering and leaving Canada and Mexico by land must have new identification documents by Jan. 1, 2008, or June 1, 2009, at the latest.

Slaughter and Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, voted for the delaying provisions. Reps. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, and John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, voted against them.

And yet he
sent out the following mailer - at taxpayer expense - informing the people of the 26th how “hard” he’s working for them, including…

Tom Reynolds put pressure on the State Department to change the current rules for travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda for U.S. Citizens.

Pressure, but he neither drafted the bill, nor voted for it when it came up for a vote. What a phony.

The mother of the 10 year old kid who shot hockey pucks at a grown man and his 5 year old son has one thing on her side - chutzpah.

Aside from the fact that she appears to be a serial litigant, she’s also deluded.

“My son is not perfect, but he’s not the ‘spawn of Chuckie’ either,” Van Dusen told The News in her first public comments on the incident. “Mr. Schmidl did things that were wrong, and so did my son. . . .My son was grounded for two weeks after it happened.

“But the whole thing was just an accident that got out of hand . . . on both sides. . . . I’m not pushing this; the Amherst police are.”

Her son is not perfect, and no one ever said he was the spawn of Chuckie. He is, instead, an obnoxious, dangerous brat who deserves far worse than a two week grounding. All Schmidl did “wrong” was get caught on the ice with this little cretin.

This exchange is pure, 99.9999% gold:

Van Dusen said she is upset that the controversy over the Pepsi Center incident is causing people to raise questions about her past and her conduct on the night of the incident.

According to Van Dusen, she had been away from the rink “for about 10 minutes maximum” when the trouble began between her son and Schmidl.

“People have been saying I went to the mall [or] I was away for 40 minutes. . . . I went out to the car to get my purse, and then I went to the ladies’ room,” Van Dusen said. “I’m a good mother. . . . I was watching the whole practice before that.”

When she returned to the rink from the restroom, Van Dusen said, several witnesses told her that her son had been in a confrontation with Schmidl.

“They told me my son shot a puck that hit [Schmidl] in the foot, and then [Schmidl] shot one back at my son,” Van Dusen said. “They said my son then shot another puck back.”

Van Dusen said witnesses told her that Schmidl and her son exchanged angry words and that Schmidl then grabbed her son and dragged him out of the rink.

“My son was wrong for talking back to an adult, and [Schmidl] was wrong for laying his hands on someone else’s child,” Van Dusen said. “But who was the adult?”

No, as a matter of fact, Schmidl was perfectly right to lay his hands on your child, whom you had admittedly left unattended and unsupervised for at least 10 minutes. In that 10 minute span, your brat shot hockey pucks (which are not made from Nerf (R) material, incidentally) at a grown man and his young child, who were minding their own business on the ice. Schmidl would have been well within his rights to forcibly remove your son - who committed an intentional assault on him - from the ice, if not the building.

As Schmidl’s attorney stated,

He didn’t ask for pucks to be fired at him.

Hopefully the Van Dusen mere et fils learned a little lesson about the unintended consequences of crappy behavior, and a little bit about personal responsibility.

Buffalo Geek will be devoting some time to further expose the petty gangster political tactics of the Brown - Casey axis. His first anecdote about running a Republican campaign in city limits is amusing enough - but there’s more to come. Stuff that no one else has been reporting, and that would make your head spin round and round.

From a Buffalo Rising article about Paula’s Donuts (home of the chocolate peanut stick):

dounkin is good doughnets and coofee tims horten is on never went to paulas yer. krisipy cream is not o nigrara falls bbld any more they wre ok . run to dundkin