Outrages & Insightstag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-16246262009-11-14T11:38:00ZTypePadCriminal and Councilman -- Brian Davis wants it both waystag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20128759c114f970c2009-11-14T06:38:00-05:002009-11-14T00:12:47ZI'll admit to being just a wee-wee bit sorry -- maybe 2 percent -- for Brian Davis on Friday for about half an hour when he was in City Court to plead guilty to charges he pocketed campaign donations for personal purposes and lied about it. First there was the "perp walk" between the elevators and the courtroom with five or six TV cameras and bright lights in his face. Humiliating, I thought to myself. Then there was the courtroom scene. After conferring with attorneys, Chief City Court Judge Thomas Amodeo allowed cameras into the chamber, and they set up...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/criminal-and-councilman-brian-davis-wants-it-both-ways.htmlBrian Davis finally fesses uptag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e2012875941268970c2009-11-13T11:31:36-05:002009-11-14T00:15:11ZIneptitude in city government is a given. But corruption, in the form of an honest-to-goodness plea or conviction is rare, rare, rare in City Hall. That makes Common Council Member Brian Davis' plea today to criminal charges that he pocketed campaign contributions and used them for personal purposes and then lied to the state Board of Elections about it particularly scandalous. I picked the brains of some old-timers and while mayors Steven Pankow and Chester Kowal were indicted in the 1950s and 1960s respectively, they were never convicted. The no-show job scandal during the final term of Mayor Frank Sedita...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/brian-davis-finally-fesses-up.htmlIDA continues to obfuscate in wake of One Sunset fiascotag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6877e97970b2009-11-12T12:30:35-05:002009-11-12T17:30:12ZThe folks who run the Erie County Industrial Development Agency must still be smarting over the grief they caught for lending Leonard Stokes $50,000 when his One Sunset was in the process of tanking. A few months ago they made the laughable claim that "due diligence is a way of life" at the IDA. This, from an outfit that didn't even do a basic public records check on Stokes and his restaurant, one that would have screamed "do not lend money to this business!" Now, earlier this week, the IDA staged a press event in which it trotted out some...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/ida-continues-to-obfuscate.htmlEnough to warm a cynic's hearttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20128756df8b1970c2009-11-10T07:48:24-05:002009-11-10T12:48:24ZI was initially kind of put off by the prospect of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" coming to WNY. I have little use for the vast majority of what's on television, aside from "Hockey Night in Canada" and reruns of "That 70s Show," oh, and "Family Guy." But I've got to admit I think it's neat what they're doing on the West Side, not just rebuilding one house, but making repairs to others in the neighborhood. It builds off what the good people at PUSH Buffalo, the Massachusetts Avenue Project and Buffalo ReUse are doing. I'm off the next couple of...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/enough-to-warm-a-cynics-heart.htmlRedevelopment? Yes. Hotels? No. tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6507dfd970b2009-11-09T04:43:00-05:002009-11-06T21:47:51ZRocco Termini wants to restore the luster to the tarnished gem known as the Lafayette Hotel. He wants to convert the abandoned AM&A's building into something other than the downtown's largest building code violation. Good for him. Maybe. Maybe? Yeah, maybe. Because, as they say, the devil is in the details. Termini is talking the possibility of hotel rooms being part of the mix.And being part of the developer crowd that can't possibly do a project without a government handout, his hand is no doubt poised to dip into our pocket. The trouble is that practically every hotel in and...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/redevelopment-yes-hotels-no-not-on-our-dime-anyway.htmlBrian Davis and Byron Brown play hard to gettag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6579c31970b2009-11-06T06:53:00-05:002009-11-05T22:28:35ZPolitical bedfellows Byron Brown and Brian Davis are tough guys to pin down these days -- as always. Investigators for the State Police and District Attorney showed up at City Hall on Wednesday intending to talk to Davis, presumably related to their investigation of the Ellicott District Common Council member's financial dealings. Depending on who you talk to, Davis either wasn't around or suddenly made himself scarce. No surprise. I had the same experience when I tried to question him about everything from his bad debts to phony claims of a college degree. Brown, meanwhile, waltzed into Thursday's meeting of...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/brian-davis-and-byron-brown-play-hard-to-get.htmlPathetic voter turnout speaks volumestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6a8e0c0970c2009-11-05T09:05:48-05:002009-11-05T21:15:06ZThere are some 439 elected officials in Erie County. And they seemed to account for half the voters who bothered turning out to the polls Tuesday. Turnout was a rock bottom 24 percent in Erie County, and even worse just north In Niagara County, where an estimated 18 to 20 percent of voters cast ballots. Odd-numbered years are considered "off years," when neither federal offices, starting with the president, nor state, including the governor, are up for election. Turnout is historically lower, but this year it's in the basement. Consider these trends: In Erie County, some 141,000 voters went to...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/pathetic-voter-turnout-speaks-volume.htmlWarren Buffett and the future of journalismtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a650169d970b2009-11-03T15:33:59-05:002009-11-04T06:29:19ZI'll admit to initially being a bit put off by the title of the speakers panel I'm participating in Thursday: "Journalism on the brink: When the daily paper becomes the daily blog, who wins and who loses?" The again, it's kind of subtle compared to what Warren Buffett had to say this morning on CNBC: "Newspapers have a terrible future." Far be it for me to argue with the boss. Buffett. whose Berkshire Hathaway owns The Buffalo News and a piece of the Washington Post, went on to note the steep decline in newspaper circulation reported last week. "The truth...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/buffett-newspapers-rip.htmlBlock grant woes go from bad to worsetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6450f08970b2009-11-02T07:00:13-05:002009-11-02T16:00:29ZThe city's block grant program may be more screwed up than ever. Given its history, that's saying a lot. And given the city's status as the nation's third-poorest city, that's a shame. Not that anybody in a position of authority seems embarrassed about it, at least not enough to actually do something about it. Of course, Mayor Byron Brown can fix the problem. But he hasn't exactly built a track record as a problem solver during his nearly four years in office, has he? From what I learned during the course of reporting today's story, it appears Brown -- with...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/block-grant.htmlCollins and Brown -- the sequeltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a68a50e2970c2009-10-29T17:26:06-04:002009-10-29T15:39:19ZSo much for Chris Collins' rant about Sheldon Silver the anit-Christ being "unscripted" and "off the cuff," as claimed by his flak. Artvoice reports: When Erie County Executive Chris Collins called Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver an anti-Christ last Saturday night at a Republican dinner, it wasn’t the first time he’d pulled the line out of his bag. He recently made the exact same comparison to a group of Buffalo State political science students, who were visiting the Rath Building. Two Buffalo State faculty members were present. Geoff Kelly goes on to say: But it’s clear to me that his remark...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/10/collins-and-brown-the-sequel.html