The former treasurer of West Seneca Fire District No. 1 has admitted stealing $138,000 from the department over eight years.

According to the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office, 25-year-old Phillip Ellinwood was trying to pass a car on Wethersfield Road in the town of Wethersfield when he lost control and hit a tree.

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The Buffalo Sabres have had what’s they’ve termed "positive” talks with defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, who has less than a day to determine whether to sign with the team before he’s eligible to become a free agent.

Congressman Brian Higgins has confirmed federal agencies involved in Peace Bridge expansion project are moving toward consensus on a reduced footprint for the U.S. Plaza.  The news comes after Congressman Higgins' call on Wednesday afternoon with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin.   In April Congressman Higgins wrote to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requesting an expedited effort on the Peace Bridge construction project including consideration of a reduced footprint for the American plaza.
 
"The direct engagement of the U.S. government in the process and a consensus on a reduced Peace Bridge plaza puts real steam behind what we see as the first phase of creating the increased capacity so critical to the Western New York - Southern Ontario economic relationship," said Congressman Higgins, a member of the House of Representatives Committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs.  "This is a way forward that brings certainty to the neighborhood, adds predictability for travelers and could mean shovels in the ground significantly sooner."
 
In March, when Congressman Higgins met with United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to discuss the Peace Bridge, the USDOT made it clear the project was a priority.
 
Discussions are currently underway on a smaller plaza that would continue to provide 7 additional inspection booths, as proposed by the Peace Bridge expansion project, but do so on a smaller footprint that reduces the proposed new plaza by 12 acres and reduces the residence acquisition to only one property. 
 
In addition the smaller plaza design would accommodate the potential future incorporation of initial screenings on the Canadian side of the border, also known as pre-inspection, not to be confused with pre-clearance or shared border management, an issue confirmed "dead" by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano.   Better joint border coordination was one of the items outlined in "Beyond the Borders" following a meeting between U.S. President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper in February.
 
The Peace Bridge Authority (PBA) is also supportive of the proposed smaller plaza concepts and is willing to advance them swiftly.  The smaller plaza would cost significantly less and the project would be funded by the PBA directly.
 
"With our work on Buffalo's waterfront we have witnessed the great progress that can happen with incremental achievements that are continually moving the ball forward," added Higgins.  "This step toward a smaller plaza brings us closer toward our much larger goal - because the Western New York economy and the jobs directly linked to our cross border efficiency can't afford to wait."

Entry Image: Nate Mroz' Buffalo Scenic Prints

Even before the long-awaited Department of Environmental Conservation report on hydrofracking is released, the NY Times is reporting that Governor Cuomo’s administration will seek to lift the statewide ban on the controversial practice championed by big energy companies—although they might decide to continue protecting the NYC watershed, you know, just to be on the safe [...]

By Gladys Gifford, President of Citizens for Regional Transit:

The sponsors of the Cars on Main Street project prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA)1 that was submitted to the Federal government in order to release funding.

The EA, as submitted in 2009, should have addressed all the possible impacts that this project will have on the WNY population.2  Did it?  Or are there unintended consequences that the sponsors have ignored?

For instance:

Air quality

Recently,  I observed a woman in a wheelchair board a Metro Rail car at one of the downtown stops.  Her wheelchair was equipped with an oxygen tank, but she was not using the oxygen.  She rode to one of the underground stations. As she prepared to exit, she put her oxygen tube in place to use as she exited the train.

I wondered: didn't this woman need her oxygen when she was in downtown Buffalo and traveling in the above ground portion of Metro Rail?  Clearly, she did need her oxygen later when she was exiting through an underground station and heading for her destination.

This simple but telling observation illustrates a point.  The air is clean in downtown Buffalo, the consequence of having no motor vehicles on Main street for over 25 years.

The EA analysis of air quality for the project relied on the general average for the region, based on measurements taken at three sites in Erie County that are remote from the project area.  No sampling of the air quality in downtown Buffalo was done; therefore, there was no realistic basis for claiming that there was no significant impact on air quality in downtown Main Street.  Did project sponsors realize that this project will expose downtown residents and workers and visitors to levels of air pollution not experienced  in downtown Buffalo since 1984?

Safety and liability

The next time you walk around a Metro Rail car in downtown Buffalo, notice the  immovable couplers at either end of Metro Rail cars;  in the event of a collision, an automobile would be crushed.

Also worth noting is the fact that motor vehicles are not allowed under the HSBC tower, as a result of 9-11-01.  The completed Cars on Main Street project would remove that ban.

As for liability, Metro Rail train operators are responsible for up to four rail cars.  The momentum of such a moving train means that the operator cannot stop suddenly, nor can the train swerve to avoid a crash with a motor vehicle.  Such a crash will happen, despite the best efforts of the city and the NFTA to control the movement of vehicles.  When that happens, who is liable?

Disability requirements

The project degrades access for the disabled.  Elimination of the Theater Station reduces access for the disabled to the whole transit system.  Furthermore, the project requires new stations for the remainder of downtown Buffalo in order to accommodate motor vehicles driving on the railbed.  The new stations would feature an attached hydraulic-operated Bridge Ramp for disabled access.  This Bridge Ramp would be a steel plate that would be lifted in place as a train approaches.  This design has never been tested for operation in harsh weather conditions.

Legal issues

The EA concluded that this project had no significant impact on minority and low-income population. This conclusion is flawed, and flies in the face of the evidence.

The EA identified a residential population in the analysis area that consisted of 585 people in 313 households, as of 2001.  This small population was evenly split racially, and half had a household income below the poverty line.  None of these households were interviewed by the sponsors to assess the impacts of the project on their lives.

Furthermore, the EA did not examine impacts on transit riders, the majority of whom are minority women earning less than $25,000, according to a survey of transit riders done by the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council in 2002.  Removal of the Theater Station plus mixing vehicular traffic with Metro Rail cars will result in disruptions and delays to the riders served by Metro transit.  Since the Cars on Main Street project impacts the whole transit system, the question of "environmental justice" as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should have been addressed.

Let's do Cars on Main Street right-- revise the design, so that all who arrive in downtown Buffalo are well-served by all modes of travel.

1 www.nfta.com.pdf
2 orf.od.nih.gov/

Only one Buffalo house would have to be acquired and torn down to make way for a smaller Peace Bridge plaza now being considered, officials said today.

Here's a suggestion for some Buffalo Board of Education members: Why don't you try being candid with the public?

13-year-old dies saving sibling in tragedy in Cazenovia Creek.

Monaco’s Prince Albert, former Olympic swimmer to wed in grand style

According to the Buffalo News police blotter, local lawyer Lisa Yaeger has been indicted for filing false tax returns. It’s alleged she didn’t report over $25,000 in income. Yaeger used to work among the many staffers in Senator Antoine Thompson’s office. Must be hard to keep track of your income when it’s coming from so [...]

One of the great ironies of the War of 1812 is that while the Niagara Region has been called the cockpit of the war, much as Virginia was during the Civil War, the people of this region had nothing to do with any of the issues over which the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. However, by the time the war ended, both sides of the Niagara River had been devastated, with houses and forts burned, fields trampled, and thousands dead, wounded, or captured.

Another irony is that, despite this region's being so important in the conflict, the War of 1812 may be America's least known war, even in Western New York. However, we have a wonderful opportunity to rectify that with the War of 1812 Boat Tour on Saturday, July 2 at 10:00 a.m. Take a leisurely boat tour on the Miss Buffalo expert guides regale you with stories both heroic and tragic. We will cruise past Fort Erie, the scene of desperate fighting during the summer of 1814. (If we are lucky, the fort might fire a cannon in salute.) Passing under the Peace Bridge, a memorial to the peace that has prevailed between our two countries since 1815, we will come back up the Black Rock Channel and hear about events on the American side such as the Battle of Black Rock and the British soldier who saved his amputated arm for a proper burial.

The ship boards at 9:30 a.m., and guests are advised to dress for the weather. The cost is $20 and $10 for students. (Members of Preservation Buffalo Niagara get $5 off both prices.) Reservations are highly recommended as this tour is expected to sell out.

This tour is sponsored by Buffalo Tours. Buffalo Tours will also hold a War of 1812 Bicycle Tour on September 24 at 10am (must have working bike & helmet) Reservations are required,
and the tour will meet at the truss bridge at Erie Canal Harbor.
 The cost is $20 ($15 for PBN members). To make a reservation or to find out more, please call 852-3300 or visit www.BuffaloTours.org.

Image: Perry's Victory - The Ohio Historical Society - Artist: William Henry Powell

ECC officials, hell-bent on constructing a $30 million new building on the north campus, are now pitching a plan that would expand the college's footprint downtown.  According to today's Buffalo News, ECC is exploring relocating its culinary programs to the Statler while also taking space in the AM&As Department store for additional classrooms.  In addition, the college is looking to offering automotive repair classes in the city. 

Downtown leaders and student representatives have been lobbying college and elected leaders to build the new academic building closer to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus where UB, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park, and others are investing hundreds of millions of dollar in new and expanded facilities. 

ECC's new proposal could jump-start Rocco Termini's plan to redevelop the massive AM&A's department store on Main Street and provide an anchor for Mark Croce's Statler renovation now getting under way. 

From The Buffalo News:

[ECC President] Quinn has held discussions with developers Rocco Termini and Mark Croce about how ECC might use space in their downtown projects.

Termini is expected to bring the board a plan for his former AM&A's building, while discussions have been held on locating the culinary program in Croce's Statler Towers.

Quinn also said he has had conversations about leasing space on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, using space in the Central Library downtown and making ECC's automotive technology program available in the city. College officials took issue with criticism that the college isn't committed to the city, pointing out that $9 million in masonry and roofing work has begun on the City Campus building. "In the last couple of years, we have spent 60 percent of our capital construction funds downtown at a campus where 24 percent of our students go," Krzesinski said. "To paint us in a light that we don't care about the City Campus is just not true."

Reuse of the AM&As and Statler buildings have been called critical to downtown's future.  While it isn't the downtown consolidation of the three college campuses that some have called for, is it enough of a commitment to the city for the ECC plan to proceed?  Former County Executive Joel Giambra is not sold.  He is considering a lawsuit to block the new north campus building.