ECHDC Approves Union Workforce

It is refreshing to see the ECHDC moving in the right direction. It is also refreshing to see the media (BRO) reporting the benefits of cost savings from using Union craftsman. There is way too much Union bashing in the news these days, it is good to see reality given a chance for once.

i thought with all the govt $$$, it would at least have to be a prevailing wage job anyway.

Given that the work is prevailing wage anyway, I fail to see how a PLA will create a cost savings. Unless, of course, the Building Trades intended to make it cost more if they didn't get their way.

"...the project will be devoid of construction site jurisdictional hindrances and potential lockouts or strikes."

PLA's are blackmail.

A reason to be happy? I cannot blame the unions for their action, after all they will be provided "stimulus program" jobs. Not that this is part of the Obama stimulus program but the expenditure of public tax dollars at a time of declining consumerism with a sharp drop retail spending is totally foolish. I love to listen to the political economic developers who have all been around for the last thirty years telling us how successfully they are going to spend yours and mine tax dollars on this shopping mall. When the president asked to the politicians to develop infrastructure jobs that would create a better community I did not think that he meant "shopping malls." Only in Buffalo could something as foolish as this take place. If you want to read another opinion on this project read Mark Goldman's article in the Buffalo News editorial page on @-16-2010, oldman: Canal Side Project lacks a plan to make it work
By Mark Goldman
Updated: February 16, 2010, 1:00 pm /
Published: February 16, 2010, 12:30 am

Ihave serious reservations about the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp.’s plan for the Canal Side Project. The plan, created by leading national and local architects and marked by exciting architectural details, is deeply flawed.

Despite excellent design details — low, brick buildings, attractive cobblestone streets, quaint canals lined with cafes, heated street furniture and signage designed by Disney — the plan, costing close to $500 million in public funds, is not supported by any demographic or economic data that makes any sense.

At a time when most of our stores and restaurants—even those operating in such proven destinations as Hertel, Elmwood and Allen — are struggling to survive; when major cultural institutions like the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society and the rest are straining with ever- shrinking revenue; when our public schools, even those recently remodeled with almost $10 billion in state funds, are terminating teachers and programs, it is unconscionable that we would consider the kind of public support that the Canal District project requires, particularly since the plan has no business plan.

There are no pro-formas, no income expense statements, nothing that makes the stunning drawings and rhetoric seem real. Retailers — restaurant and other street-based business owners —require a steady, regular and daily clientele. None of them would ever considering locating (unless given generous subsidies) in a destination-driven location like the Canal District. Buffalo does not need, in the words of one of the architects, another “great spot.” We have more than enough of them already and most of them do not have the traffic they need to survive.

Given our demographic and economic realities, the development corporation’s plan cannot succeed. What if we do build it and nobody comes? The plan has no exit strategy — no way to mitigate the vast expenditure of public dollars, no way to reuse the buildings should their intended uses fail.

Will we continue, in some desperate effort to save our investment, to shovel more money at it? Will we let it die a natural death, leaving a huge monument, however beautifully designed, to yet another generation’s unfilled dreams for the waterfront? It’s time to stop the kind of planning that is focused on fantasy and not the realities of our time and place.

If we don’t, this plan will further damage the fiscal health of our community. Worse, it will add to the cynicism that already afflicts a citizenry overburdened by publicly funded projects for which there is little demand. The Canal Development Corp’s plan for the waterfront is the wrong plan, in the wrong place and at the wrong time. I strongly urge that we reject it. Let us instead reexamine the district within the context of our existing resources and realities.

Mark Goldman is a business owner who has written three books on Buffalo.

I think littleacorn, mark goldman, and forestbird, should suck a big one! I you don't like it it, then MOVE! LEAVE! Its people like you who have no faith, no positive ambitions and nothing but negative energy to anything that represents our region and beloved city of Buffalo. Let it grow, and grow with it, or move on and grow elsewhere. Period.

Well the way i see it there are two things that can actually happen. By the time this project is actually complete the country will be back on the upswing and going strong and this project will work out great, or the whole country will be in the crapper and it wont matter anyways. Depends on what sort of 'change' we see out of the losers running this country, D&R's.

You don't leave something you love because it's being ill-served. Well, maybe YOU would, because you think that's an option.

Why non-unionized work is never an option is beyond me...F'ing racketeering

The signing of a PLA will doom this project to failure and most of us won't even realize it until it is completed. It will be completed WAY over projected cost and state taxes will continue to rise.

Right out of the blocks this project spits in the face of private business that happens to be the current and future backbone of this little city. When will we learn.

I guess this is further proof that there is a brain-drain to the Southern States.

Hardly believable!

I would just like to know why noone is marketing our already vacant structures to National Retailers and Restaurants??? Why start from scratch when our downtown is already READY for these kinds of businesses. Look at the buildings along Main Street, some are 3-4 stories high and VACANT, the 500 block can be a mix of great eateries and retailers, the Theater District is just screaming for Theme Restaurants and unique retailers that will draw customers in when Theaters are not showing anything.
I'm all for the Canal District to be a success, but what about the spin offs? And after it's done, who will then market the REST OF DOWNTOWN to complete the vibe????

Church of Freemarketology

Demographics, Supply and Demand, The Free Market,
Freemarketoloy, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, Freemarketology, and Freemarketology.

1.The
2.Church
3.of
4.Freemarketology


Keep dreaming indeed. Projects like this can't be planned since they are above the capabilities of human beings. They drop out of the sky as blessings from the "free market" as long as we make the gods "Supply" and "Demand" happy with offerings of demolitions, free parking, off ramps and deregulation to let our noble captains of industry run wild. Then, and only then, the "invisible hand" will just build things for us. Its that easy!

The difference is those "publicly-funded highways" were built to enable sprawl and add value to suburbia while destroying and devaluing city neighborhoods.
As for mortgage interest deductions, we have been down this road before, lower value city homes and their lower income owners cannot take of advantage of this giveaway. This program is the largest transfer of wealth in America and benefits only the middle class or above. I would think with your anti subsidy and free market leanings the mortgage interest deduction would trouble you. It is just a form of welfare, given to those without need, and as a price support to the housing market.

"Lower value city homes and their lower income owners cannot take of advantage of this giveaway [the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction]. This program is the largest transfer of wealth in America and benefits only the middle class or above"

Wrong, so wrong. This program does not benefit only the middle class or above. It benefits ANYONE who decides to be a homeowner. You do not have to be middle class or above to make that decision. As a matter of fact, we have government programs in place to help lower-income Americans achieve the so-called American dream of home ownership. One example of this is the New York State Down Payment Assistance Program. "The American Dream Down Payment Act" is a down payment assistance initiative that allows grants to be given to participating jurisdictions to assist low-to-mid-income families and uniformed employees such as, policemen, firemen, sanitation, maintenance workers, and teachers who are employees of the participating state to achieve homeownership. The problem is, home ownership comes with a miriad of responsibilities. The first of which is maintaining a relatively good (or "fair") credit rating in order to obtain the mortgage. There are government-sponsored classes available to help people learn how to achieve a decent credit score for people who didn't already understand how it works. Then once home ownership is accomplished, there is ongoing maintenance. We have government programs, that help low-income homeowners maintain their homes. HEAP, for example, pays for things like new windows, furnaces, insulation, etc. So home ownership is not something just for the wealthy. Higher income Americans pay plenty of income taxes to help pay for these programs to help lower income Americans buy homes. You can only lead a horse to water, but you can't make him buy a home to take advantage of the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, "the largest transfer of wealth in America" according to Blackrocklifer. Anyone can get on board with it if he or she is motivated enough to do so.

That top 1% have 38% of the wealth, the top 1% of households are worth an average of 10 million. The bottom 40% have less than 1%, the bottom 20% are worth about 5 thousand apiece.
This isn't natural selection, this is the result of manipulation and exploitation.