Zimmermann: Rienas. Thirty (30) minutes.
* PBA will tear down 90-plus west side homes if the small legals forces cannot stop them
* PBA will improve diesel emissions in future years to then create a healthier west side, but not before things get measurably worse.
* PBA accepts no competition, Ambassador Bridge or otherwise-- promotes a booklet denouncing ANBG.
* PBA will sue aggitators in Fort Erie where free speech laws are more constrained
* PBA is buying land near IRR, and has its reasons--reasons for everything
* PBA admits to diesel harm on children, but points finger also at Laidlaw school buses for contributing-- what? That didn't create the asthma mega-concentration on the west side-- PBA trucks did. But glad to hear PBA admits the dangers of diesel emissions. The rest of the world does.
There are 30-plus arguments opened in this interview... each one asking a community's attention and discussion.
Mr. Rienas presented his view of facts that albeit have multiple interpretations. At interview's end, we agreed that even the inuendos should be aired--to reach to the bottom of where this argument lies, and that we would research eachother's comments, and return to an exchange of interpretations.
We need the whole community to weigh in.
One of our readers, "PBK" wrote: "If bloggers want main stream reporting, subscribe to the Buffalo News or turn on local news. Ron Rienas doesn't present facts but fabrications that suit the PBA on any given day. The number game has been played between the PBA and West Side residents for more than 20 years. Ron Rienas knows that the PBA expansion plans past and present remain fluid on any given day to suit the needs of the Public Bridge Authority.
1.Just look at the PBA DEIS (Draft of Environmental Impact Study 2007) which became available to the public just last month.
2. In the DEIS, Historical Loses 2007, Section 4-f, " Alternative 1 includes the construction of an expanded US plaza in Buffalo and associated connecting roadways. It would require the acquisition of 120 parcels of land totaling 6.0 hectares (14.9 acres) of right-away and the relocation of 128 households and 10 businesses."
3. Once again, Ron Rienas contradicts the facts as stated by the PBA itself. Listen carefully, and you'll hear him splitting hairs on what constitutes a homeownership v. a household. The DEIS lists 128 not 90 households.
4. The DEIS also states, "fifty-eight architectural resources and two historical districts are listed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) within the proposed project's area of Potential Effect (APE). Alternative 1 would directly impact (i.e. demolish) eight of these architectural resources."
5." Other architectural resources and two historical districts, though not directly impacted by the Build Alternatives, would experience indirect impacts, including changes in setting, alterations of view sheds, and/or increase in traffic volumes passing by the resources (depending on the design of the Build Alternative)."
6. How much time did Ron Rienas devote to the demolition of historical treasures or the dislocation of hundreds?
7. Rienas states that the PBA has never purchased properties from the City of Buffalo. Technically, that maybe true but what he doesn't say is that the PBA purchased several houses and a business on Busti Ave. during the mid 1990's.
8. They spent close to $2 million dollars buying less than 10 properties.
9. Those properties have become the biggest eye sores in a historically significant community. The properties have remained unoccupied and blighted for more than a decade. And they don't pay property tax like the little people do.
11. The PBA does not abide by the same housing code standards as other taxpaying property owners because they hold themselves above the law. And they get away with it. They call themselves a 'Compact Entity'. Ever hear of it? You won't because they made it up.
12. How much time did Rienas devote to discussing how the expansion will forever change the footprint of the only remaining historical waterfront community in the City of Buffalo?
13. "The whole point of doing the plaza".....according to Rienas....to increase truck traffic so that diesel fuel emissions don't build up because of too many idling trucks. That makes sense!
14. Don't people belong in neighborhoods and not trucks? Nope. Not according to the Buffalo Bills, Rich Products and General Motors. Ron Rienas says that we should just go and ask them....People or Trucks?
15. Why do other cities falsely believe that tourists want to visit places with Victorian charm and historical landmarks. A restored historical waterfront that people can walk, bike, hike or play in, surrounded by 4 jeweled parks designed by true genius at the turn of the 19th century.
16. Rienas would answer that is just a fallacy. We all know or should know that tourists from all over the world would rather flock to see 45 acres of concrete and monster trucks where 58 architectural resources, 2 historic districts, a jeweled waterfront, 128 households and 10 businesses once stood. Now that Mr. Rienas is a real plan! Just ask the Gov., Higgins and the Mayor."