The Olmsted Gala: South Park

How screwed would this town be without M&T Bank. I know the anti-capitalism crowd (97.8%) will find this hard to believe, but it is true.

But M&T is not and should not be lumped in with the Goldman Sachs, the Lehman Brothers and the rest of the banks that make up the Federal Reserve, use savings and mortages to engage in Hedges, Derivatives, Credit Default Swaps and all the other high risk unregulated money makers.

Bring back Glass Steagall, break up the banks like they broke up AT&T, and people will like banks just fine.

M&T is closer to Bailey Savings and Loan than Goldman Sachs.

You want to get donations and get people excited then publish a date for specific projects like buying the land between the Ship Canal and South Park (which would allow them to move the Golf Course out of South Park.

Dont forget the Lake is turning into a swamp and needs to be dredged.

Come on...speed up the restoration efforts we want to see!

First, theres a difference between what I would call sustainable capitalism and unsustainable capitalism. Theres also a difference between socially responsible and exploitation based capitalism. Theres a difference between companies that show loyalty to a region and embed themselves as institutions, almost making their communities part of their business models and those that show no loyalty to much other than profit and cut and run leaving all their employees and those communities to falter and their buildings to rot and fall apart leading to neighborhood degradation- see broken windows theory.

Theres a difference in capitalism with a soul and soul-less spineless radical greed based capitalism that destroys communities. Excuse people from areas that have been left decimated by executive decisions and corporate catch phrases for being a bit skeptical or shy around the concept of capitalism when elements of it have screwed their communities and very livelihoods with no light at the end of the tunnel apparent. Huge swaths of this country have been left a shadow of their former self. How has that version of capitalism helped them? Seems the soul-less spineless radical greed based approach to capitalism led to the great depression in the 30's and the destruction of American manufacturing in the 70's, 80's, and 90's and demoralized an entire generation of workers leading to decades of hurt for the citizens, governments, and infrastructure in the deep end of the fallout, and rise of poverty and crime. It has also led us to build these big happy profit making bubbles THAT BUST and put us in an economy worldwide that we now find ourselves in.

I view M&T Bank MUCH more highly than I do the likes of an HSBC or some other multinational that gobbles up companies, makes money and then spits them out or the likes of the Bain Capitals of the world. For the majority of Americans the spelling should be Bane Capital as in the Bane of our existence.

Depends what kind of capitalism you are referring to.

I was just there last night for an event to benefit the Botanical Gardens. It is an amazing scene on the Botanical Gardens campus, but the immediate area is a disaster.

Some of those broken-down retail establishments look like they were put together from junk people stole from other retail establishments. I hope that's what we're talking about fixing when referencing "impressive Olmsted initiatives underway that may not be on the general public's radar."

y--a marble city buried in the desert sand--by Mr. Falls noticing the relief of a camel's head on a kom, with fragments of broken pottery. He ran back to Mr. Kaufmann, crying out, "This,nhl hats wholesale, Charley, ought to be the lost city!" The discovery was made in the summer, but Mr. Kaufmann was so ill that they could not stay there. However, they went back five months later, with the permission of the Ministry and the support of the Khedive, and excavated the famous basilica of Arcadius. The Bedawin were at first hostile to the operations, because they thought a big European city would come there, and that the excavators were digging for the treasure, guarded by big thick snakes, which they themselves had always been trying to find. But the Bedawin afterwards became their devoted workmen. The results of the excavation I must give in Mr. Falls's own words from a beautifully illustrated article in the Cairo Sphinx .

EXTRACT FROM "THE SPHINX," JANUARY 16, 1909

"At the same time work began on the large apse in the centre. It was hard work before the white, resplendent basilica of Arcadius, supported by fifty marble columns, came to light. At the end of this huge building, according to the old Arab manuscript, lay the tomb of the saint, the marble grave of the patron of the Lybian desert and of Alexandria. And, indeed, one day in January 1906, on the very spot, the entrance of a sort of cellar was discovered, so small that scarcely one man could enter. It took over a month to open a fine s