"We are so clean that we are the only city that does not require litter cans downtown."
Sometimes to our detriment. There are a couple places that could really use them. Otherwise it is a good score and am glad that Buffalo is continuing to clean up its act.
re: Welfare is one of the main reasons that my escrow payment is equal to my mortgage payment. If I am paying for the overly entitled welfare recipients then I do have the right to question what they are doing or not doing. There are over 100 jobs open at various call centers and collection centers around the city, and over 40 openings at the Galleria. The Help Wanted sign at the McDonald's on Bailey has been up for so long that the letters are sun faded, yet we feel sorry for the welfare cases?
The sad part is that there are people who feel that we need to increase welfare spending, socialize all services, and take away all incentive to work for a better life. Hurray for mediocrity, long live the underclass!
I'm crushed by the one star rating. However I wasn't being saracastic. I really did see him in a tinted escalade with lynch riding shotgun and he did almost hit us. And he almost hit us b/c we were jaywalking. Which, from the sound of it, was exactly what that Canadian woman was doing. And since she walked away from the accident I'm also going to guess she was drunk (not paying attention, body didn't brace for impact, minimal bodily harm) I'm also guessing that whoever was in that car was also under the influence. Before I get more 1 star ratings, I'm not defending or condeming anyone, just calling it like it sounds. They way people walk and drive down there I'm actually surprised things like this don't happen more often. Still, how that has anything to do with being a clean city (Kudos btw) or even welfare is beyond me.
Does anyone know who the other 4 cities were? Or what the future of Losman's organization is? It started with a bang but I haven't heard anything since.
We are so clean that we are the only city that does not require litter cans downtown.
Ever notice that we don't have any other than a few on Chip?
All Star - Why are you upset that Readers Digest is not doing rankings on subjects that are important to you? They can rank whatever they wish, if they want to rank Clean cities that is their business. If you don't like their content selection don't subscribe or start your own magazine. I doubt that you have the attention span to read one of their entire articles anyhow.
@BuffState2011: Why can't we judge? What makes us so different that we cannot judge those who are more or less fortunate than us? It is OK to make generalizations about CEOs and Doctors who live in Spaulding Lake but you make a few comments that refer to welfare and suddenly your panties are in a wad.
You are right though, the democratic government in Buffalo has made it very easy to live off the system with no recourse or concern. Maybe those with ambition and money should leave the ci... oh wait, they already have!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with making welfare recipients responsible for removing the litter from the area around their residences in exchange for their benefits. Nothing. In fact, the children of the welfare recipients would learn that you have to work to earn your keep.
But it will never happen. The welfare rights crowd, the loudmouth radicals, and the bleeding heart liberals will never allow it.
@BuffState2011: Why can't we judge? What makes us so different that we cannot judge those who are more or less fortunate than us? It is OK to make generalizations about CEOs and Doctors who live in Spaulding Lake but you make a few comments that refer to welfare and suddenly your panties are in a wad.
You are right though, the democratic government in Buffalo has made it very easy to live off the system with no recourse or concern. Maybe those with ambition and money should leave the ci... oh wait, they already have!
To me, a clean city is when you take a walk and don't see garbage every 100 feet. I have always wondered why there is not a garbage can at EVERY bus stop. Such a simple solution that would have an immediate affect. Granted, you can't make people throw their trash out, but at least this gives them a chance to.
great idea!!! Let the future welfare recipients, errr System Manipulators, clean up before they get all the free shit from us taxpayers. KEEP VOTING DEMOCRAT BUFFALO! Its done wonders for us!
Chippewa is the only place with garbage cans because chippewa is the only place downtown with people!
1. Buffalo's "democratic government" has nothing to do with welfare, which is a federal program. Duh.
2. Only a psycho or a stupid person would call welfare recipients "overly entitled." Welfare recipients are dirt poor. What is it that they're entitled to -- poverty?
3. Bill Clinton ended welfare as we knew it in the 90's. So the irrational hatred of the poor is a bipartisan issue.
4. Everyone who has posted anti-welfare nonsense here has benefited from a whole range of government programs, subsidies and tax breaks. The difference is that these programs are never called "welfare" or "entitlements."
5. Every time you cut welfare benefits, you are harming children. For every so-called welfare queen you remove from the rolls, you harm 2 or 3 (or more) children who are 100% blameless for their station in life.
...hire teens? make them clean up before they get free heat, rent and food stamps.
Shouldn't we give the East Side welfare kids a break? Living where and how they live, they are getting no education better than the one they see in the hood. They will either survive or die, but those who live will have an education that most of us would neither want nor understand. Underclass is exactly correct for it implies a fixed status. The only way out of that is a good education which, unfortunately isn't available in our city schools. Slings and arrows expected.
ridiculous. poor people are obviously the cause of all the worlds problems.. I mean they are poor and therefore and just ruining my cushy life and escro account.. damn them for not having any money!
A lot of you people are sick and twisted and should be very ashamed of yourselves! To pick on teenagers who live in poverty from the eastside (or any place) show that you are not mature at all. You are sick people saying something like that! Just because a child grows up in a home with parents who recieve welfare does not mean you are allowed to label or judge those children! children/teengers do not chose the parents they have! If you really are unhappy with Buffalo and the democratic government here then you should leave! I hear Texas is a nice place place to live...maybe its time that you relocated!
The poor are just innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control. We should pity them for being poor and do whatever we can to help them. It is not their fault that they are poor because the chips were stacked against them from the start. It is really not their fault because they haven't been offered the same opportunities that the rest of us have and as a result of our opportunities, few of us have had to struggle like the poor do. I guess we really need to be careful about making assumptions over welfare. There are too many conservatives out there who want everyone to believe that poverty = laziness.
yes, there are degrees of condemnation and all the facts are not yet known.... Rez' comment is a one-star unworthy, lame cheapshot
gonna get one of those kayaks though, that looks fun
Unfortunately, the Reader's Digest article ranks CLEAN cities, not green ones. Country Home ranks Buffalo the 165th greenest city in the country.
Perhaps more telling is Popular Science not ranking Buffalo in its top 50 greenest cities list at all.
darn, some pretty rude comments here. yes there is garbage on the streets, but all city's get that.
Once again incredibly negative posts in the context of such good news and positive international exposure. I think the people who have made negative remarks concerning this news are those who never get out of Buffalo and see other cities. I myself was rather surprised to learn that Portland, Ore. (the darling of American cities) has an ancient sewage system and that their surface run-off is combined with raw sewage and that their carbon emissions are so high! I think this is great news about Buffalo and just another item that Buffalonians can keep in their repertoire of metro facts.
Also its factual that minumum wage jobs do not, and will not get most people out of poverty! Try making $15,000 a year...working full time and tell me howwell off you are! Many of the people I know that recieve government assistance do actually work! If you made only $15,000 in an entire year, wouldnt you NEED some help too?
@blinkee: You shouldn't judge in general...its just not right! All of the worlds hatred, racism, and inequallity stems from the fact that there is labels in place. And yes there are many people who manipulate the system, but well over half of those people who recieve government assistence really need that money. Expecting the children who recieve that assistance to clean streets isnt right either! They did not ask to be born to welfare reciepitiants. @allfit: Would you mind giving people rides to work at all those places you suggested work at!? Transportation is one of this cities largest issues! Have you ever taken the bus here? A trip that would normally take people commuting in cars 20 minutes, easily exceeds an hour and a half for those on the bus! And thats just in one direction! Imagine over three hours of commuting daily! Now imagine that your also a single parent, with 2 children who need you at home,. Then add in that you work a minimum wage job so obviously you cannot afford a babysitter! That is the situation for hundreds of families in the city!
Actually I did see him in a tinted escalade (with Marshawn in the passenger seat) and he almost hit me and two of my friends. What that has to do with clean streets or welfare is beyond me...
garbage isnt garbage on the eastside, its part of the landscape. Littering creates jobs and i think the city should hire teens to clean up the east side during the summer
Bc: I won't go as far as condemnation b/c people make mistakes, but otherwise I agree. My issue here is that Rez is quick to praise Losman as some sort of hybrid driving, do gooder Buffalo hero and damn Lynch as some tinted windowed SUV driving monster mowing down toursits left and right. When I have seen Losman (with Lynch in the car) in a tinted out SUV.
"We didn't see him driving around in a tinted windowed car plowing over a Canadian women on the Chip strip. He had more integrity than the current hit and run Buffalo Bills star. "
And I don't get the integrity thing either. What situation has Losman been in where he has had to show integrity? Did he get into legal trouble that I don't know about?
I agree that its wrong and reprehensible to do what the driver did. And surely Lynch was in the vehicle and was the driver or knows who the driver was and should come forward, but we should be careful not to view it as the poor woman who was just strolling along minding her own business when big bad Marshawn lined her up, stomped the gas and mowed her down and then callously drove away laughing. I guaranteed you that isn't the case.
Ok now Bc, care to make a friendly wager on how many more posts it takes on this thread until it turns into another racial debate? Or how about which topic the thread will stray to next? I say the best bet is 1. Bills move to Toronto 2. Waterfront/Downtown Stadium 3. What else we could do with the money we are paying the Bills and the long shot.. 4. Suburbs (Lynch/Hamburg) VS City (Losman/Elmwood)
And seriously, does anyone know who the other four cities are? I'm interested.
Not to get totally off the welfare subject (that is what this article is about, right?) but the image of the kayaks got me thinking: Is there anywhere in the city limits to rent a canoe or kayak to explore the areas waterways?
"By the 1990s, Buffalo's dwindling population, shrinking tax base and fiscal problems meant drastic cuts in city services -- including sanitation. As a result, huge trash piles often accumulated in front of homes, sometimes going uncollected for days on end."
Um, when did this happen? I guess they did visit the East side :)
Good news is not a bad thing.
A City in Brazil with a population of over one million people has a 95% recycling rate. How you might say. The government built a state of the art public transportation system. Then it handed out bus tokens to people who brought in discarded items that can be recycled to a government run recycling center. Everything from plastics, tires, manufactured goods, clothing, papers, glass can be recycled. How come a city in Brazil is more advanced than Buffalo?
Don't let the bad news get you down. Take the good with the bad and make change for the better.
off-topic, but toughinthestreets, the issue, for me at least, is not that someone got hit....I agree with you in that on chippewa, it could happen alot more happen....but, when someone is hit, game over, time to stop and make sure that person survives
the people in the porsche suv chose not to stop and find out if the person they hit needed medical attention....that I have an issue with it and is grounds for condemnation
Also props to the Buffalo Quarterback who became second string but was the biggest supporter of Buffalo and led cleaning up Buffalo last year. We didn't see him driving around in a tinted windowed car plowing over a Canadian women on the Chip strip. He had more integrity than the current hit and run Buffalo Bills star.
I agree there should be garbage cans at bus stops.......at the vey least place them at the stops with shelters. I bet every homeowner next to a stop would agree..........especially the owner at W.Utica and Elmwood. Smelly!
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