BillsNYC Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...rty_bathrooms_1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movinon Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...rty_bathrooms_1 277861[/snapback] A sad state of affairs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Well, that's one way to promote attrition to further reduce the payroll... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusho Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Yeah Giambra, use that expensive tie you got for Xmas to wipe your Arse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobilz Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 They shouldnt be crapping on company time anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 On my way to work, I heard a story that Nancy Naples is up in arms because the county has spent 500k on park workers salaries since the parks were closed. She wants to know what the workers are doing since there are no parks to maintain? This county is seriously f***ed up! How far to go until we hit rock bottom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like A Mofo Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Damn that is real bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 I received this from a friend who is involved with NMG, and am very encouraged by it: 'I apologize for the lapse of time between our emails. I completely forgot about our previous discussion until I saw an NYCBBB email the other day. Anyways, I would like to add some follow up to our discussions concerning the fiscal turmoil here in Buffalo/Erie County. I understand that living away from this area it is hard to fully grasp the news that is occurring here. I would like to assure you - contrary to what you might have heard - things aren't as bad as they may seem. In fact they're the best they've been in many years. The course that this community is currently taking, in response to our fiscal crises, is the best course that we can possibly take. Honestly, given the severity of our situation, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome - so far. Our community impressively lashed out against our elected officials - a 'taxpayer revolt' as we're now referring to it - preventing them from raising our taxes one bit while forcing them to drastically reduce the size of government (especially pork and patronage). Given the history of this area, this was a momentous achievement. Something that I was very proud to be apart of. Regardless of how you look at it, the biggest problem that is oppressing the Buffalo Niagara region is GOVERNMENT and it's government on all levels. Obviously when you live in the state with the most inept and dysfunctional government in the nation, there is naturally going to be problems beyond your direct control. However, when your local governments - something that is within your direct control - aren't much better, there is no excuse. There was a lot of hype about how devastating the county cuts would be (once again, they had to occur) to this community. Of course little of that played out to be true. A scare tactic by our frightened elected officials. We were supposed to see 3,000+ jobs terminated. In reality 1,900 positions ended up being cut, which included 700 vacant positions, tototalingnly 1,200 actually people. We were told to "lock our doors" by the Erie County District Attorney in response to the devastating cutbacks to public safety. Instead only 10 out of 93 Assistant DAs are being cut along with a minimal reduction in rural road patrols by the sheriff. Plus countless more examples. Ultimately, I have to admit that this is a heroic account of this community rising up at a grassroots level and influencing the direction that this area is taking. I am ecstatic that this is receiving such prominent national publicity. The overwhelming majority of this community understands that county government is far too large in proportion to our declining population and with a tax increase (regardless of the form) all future attempts to stimulate economic growth will be futile. After all, there is no fair and equitable tax in an economically stagnant region that is already highly taxed. This community (most of us at least) understands that Medicaid is a dire problem - so dire that my anger inhibits my ability to articulate myself properly - yet we still need to improve our fiscal situation with the conditions that we do have control over. That being said, Erie County has a phenomenal level of services, far greater than most of the Sun Belt regions that are experiencing outstanding economic prosperity. We have most of our services because we want them, not because we need them. Ultimately, this county will still drive on successfully without those services that are being cut. Prospective outside investors care more about dollars and cents than 52 library branches and satellite DMV offices. Our biggest fault was not gradually reducing the size of county government (through cuts in services and reductions in staff) after our great victory in cutting property taxes thirty percent five years ago. We are now learning our lesson the hard way for that. Even through all our efforts, unfunded mandates will continue to scar us (part of the curse of existing in New York State) but that is not an excuse to not follow proper diligence in making sure that our local governments are the most effective and efficient they can possibly be. Also, there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever that our beloved Bills will depart as a result of this budget crisis. None. A few politicians and, of course, the media played out some yellow journalism - but that was the extent of it. What it boiled down to was a few county legislatures very foolishly asked the Bills if they could fore go Erie County's payment to the Bills used for mmaintenanceat the Ralph as dictated by the 1998 lease agreement. That was about the it. The Bills are not going to leave Buffalo because of this as some might want others to believe. I'm sure the Bills aren't happy about being asked this question but keep in mind, the legislatures asked, not told, the Bills this. The Bills are going to say no and the llegislaturewill find other ways to save money and we should have the Bills until at least 2012. I respectfully ask our local officials to continue with the course that we are taking by continuing to reduce the size of county government (in the most prudent and responsible way possible) while avoiding all tax and fee increase without exception. Hopefully they will follow suit. Change is not going to be easy in this community. If it was than we would have it by now. Yet it is necessary. We have to crash and burn before we can really reverse our course and there is nothing wrong with that. The bloody battles must be fought now on the front lines so we can ensure a pprosperityin the future for this great community. Well I just wanted to vent and let you understand the perspective of 75% of us (Bflo News poll) in this community. Things are working out. It will just take some time and some pain. I hope I wasn't to emotional. AAfter allthis political stuff is my kind of thing. I look forward to hearing from you.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMan Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 A sad state of affairs 277862[/snapback] When there's in imbalance of incoming and outgoing tax revenues there's bound to be a real problem. The idiots running WNY have been sticking their heads in the sand for 30+ years. In WNY, the vast majority of people fall into these main categories: 1. Those who receive their paychecks from government (educators, municipal, law enforcement, parks, DOT, etc) 2. Low wage earners (under $10/hour) 3. Sustained though goverment subsidized entitlement programs (welfare, SSI, food stamps, etc) 4. retirees (often living off savings and SS and many contributing to the economies of Florida or Arizona for half the year) There are, of course, business owners, utility workers, professionals, and others, but there's a huge imbalance in comparison to the group mentioned above. A healthy economic environment has a much stronger middle class that includes manufacturing, multiple services, retail, and other industries. The Buffalo area has no Fortune 500 companies or other large corporations with headquarters based in WNY that can bring money in from around the country. Buffalo is one of the few metro areas that has the worst of both worlds - high taxes and low wages. A deadly combination if ever there was one. A huge number of young people entering the work force leave WNY when they hear of the opportunity and wages that can found if they leave for Flroida, Georgia, Carolinas, etc. Do the math. Who's gonna be left to pay the freight? Just keep going with high taxes and increased union demands. Been working great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 The Buffalo area has no Fortune 500 companies or other large corporations with headquarters based in WNY that can bring money in from around the country. Buffalo is one of the few metro areas that has the worst of both worlds - high taxes and low wages. A deadly combination if ever there was one. 278141[/snapback] HSBC and Rich Products? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 HSBC and Rich Products? 278142[/snapback] HSBC is the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. They're hardly local. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 what a stevestojany thing to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 HSBC is the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. They're hardly local. 278156[/snapback] Indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 HSBC is the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. They're hardly local. 278156[/snapback] Their US operations are based out of Buffalo, NY EDIT One HSBC Center Buffalo NY 14203 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Their North American operations are based out of Buffalo, NY 278216[/snapback] My father has been there for 36 years. Pretty impressive to work for the same company that long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMan Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 HSBC and Rich Products? 278142[/snapback] Rich Products - whoopeee!!!! Gee, how'd you forget about Weber's Mustard and their 15 employees!!!! I live in metro Atlanta. We have huge offices and headquarters for Coke, Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett Packard, Scientific Atlanta, UPS, Cingular, Delta, Air Tran, IBM, etc etc etc These are, for the most part, global companies that bring money into the region from other areas. I'll bet that the vast majority of Rich's sales come from within WNY. Most areas have local dairies that accomodate the region for these purposes. I'm not bragging about Atlanta - just describing what a more typical, thriving metropolis should look like. I could have said Miami, New York, Chicago or more than dozen other cities that have multiple economic anchors that bring money and tax revenue into the area. And Buffalo's biggy is...ahem....Rich Product?!?!? Not knocking Rich Products by any means. Just pointing out that it wouldn't even be major employer in most major cities. Maybe when all the deadwood politicians and backwards thinking Hillary voting retards are gone, we can all go back and show 'em how it's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNRed Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Guys, it just got a lot worse. "Budget woes mean BYOTP in Buffalo" is one of the headlines on the front page of cnn.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac17 Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Gee, how'd you forget about Weber's Mustard and their 15 employees!!!! what about the kazoo factory - aren't there a few thousand there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzbait1965 Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 I'll bet that by this time next year the population of Erie County will be screaming to get the sales tax back. The property tax is going to go through the roof next year. The problem of overstaffing needed to be adressed but the overwhelming problem is Medicaid and the retirement bill that comes from NYS. Wait till next year if you think it's bad now. Add the recently unemployed to the already ridiculous Medicaid problem and it's going to get real ugly real fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachChuckDickerson Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/17/bathroom....t.ap/index.html Even CNN picked up on it. Front page news too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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