Buffalo Rising Online

Happy Holidays from Casey and Mayor Erkel! Heaven forbid someone asks questions and makes a difference in the neighborhoods- particularly if the do-nothings at City Hall can't take credit for it. Keep up the good work Harvey, let the politico's feast on themselves. We know the score. And shame on Reilly for joining in. Political stooge.

sounds to me like someone would rather get paid to do nothing and keep their cozy job rather than work hard for the neighbor. Maybe this is the reason why the voted Harvey out? To many times letting them know they aren't trying hard enough or doing what they are supposed to do to help the neighborhood. ITs a shame to see someone who everyone in the neighborhood and city knows believes in the neighborhoods get voted out. Shame!

"The board recently grew from 17 to 54 members." - Actually the board size hasn't changed - it was around 30 new members that were signed up at the last possible day for them to be able to vote, mostly from the Mayor's office, along with the 37 absentee ballots the night of the election that made the whole thing suspicious.

They also never voted for the name change at the annual meeting - although it was voted on by the board two weeks earlier so it could be put on the annual meeting agenda. They pulled it a the last minute after word got out and people got nervous.

I don't remember referring to the Exec Director as "inept" - but yes there are serious questions about the way the organization is run.

I don't know for sure which City Hall members voted or how they voted. It would also surprise me if Reilly was part of it but the politics over there are pretty rough. The absentee ballots are public information so they will eventually come out and we'll know what happened for sure.

It's sad if these allegations turn out to be true. This story reminds me of when former Councilmember Bonifacio took thousands of dollars to have a water line put in at 322 Bryant which was a privately-owned lot. To my knowledge the money was never repaid. Fortunately a great little home was built there, but not due to the city's efforts.

Harvey has a list of accomplishments and has been a straight shooter in my view. Hopefully he'll keep up the fight!

Meanoldman, al-alo, and Quark - all you have to do to become a member is to go to the office on Connecticut, pay your $2, and sign a membership app. Under a minute (minus travel time) I promise. I agree with Quark - if you are going to sign up as a member sign up because you want to get involved and make a difference - not because you are angry over this and want to tip the membership (then we are no better than they are).

Buscemmj - I actually did form another group a few years ago to combat some of the WSNHS's assertions that they were the only housing group on the West Side. It's a collaboration of all the other groups that do housing work on the West Side of Buffalo. It includes PUSH, Home-Front, Westminster Economic Development Initiative (and through them, Habitat), West Side Ministries, Heart of The City, and the West Side Community Collaborative. We even had some good staff members of the WSNHS attending for a while. They meet on a regular basis, have created a lot of new homeowners, developed a pretty good marketing plan, formed home buyer clubs, and are in the process of forming home repair clubs. They are a pretty amazing group.

And for the record - I'm kind of hard to beat down. :)

Harvey

There must be a way to review this sham of an election. Jsut think of all the talented, connected, and influential people who frequent this forum. There may not be anything that can be done this year (since this has happened before and there was no recourse), but most definitely change can start today. Just tell me where and when to sign up!

Wow. Happy Holidays from City Hall, Harvey. I've had people much wiser than me say that someone's not really making a difference unless they've been kicked out of something. Harvey, we all know the score - while this turn of events will have an unfortunate chilling effect on collaborative working relationships, trust, and civic engagement, you can wear their contempt like a badge of honor and hold your head high.

sounds really fishy! Mayor Goldie Wilson is pulling some shit under the rug here...What's the REAL story?

Harvey would have had to resign anyway when Gov. Patterson appointed him to the US Senate.

Right?

Mr. Governor--right?

Sadly, this type of political power play is typical of Buffalo. As much as community-based organizations can do, they can't do everything and the government has to play a role. And in Buffalo, WNY and NYS, the govts is the reason why this state is dying. This type of blatant action by the government serves to only protect their way of life and their friends and family, casting everyone else into the trash bin.

Why a Greater Buffalo NHS? There is already a South Buffalo NHS that has programs that can be utilized in the entire city and county for that matter? Probably because Greater Buffalo NHS can look more powerful and get more dollars from the City and then be basically another city department. South Buffalo NHS has continually refused to work with the City of Buffoonalo for this reason. As soon as they start gving you money, they start bullying and corrupting the organization and take it over, destroying it from the inside.

In the old days they just make Harvey disappear, now everybody is all holier than thou and they just kick him off. Bring back the old days I say...

Activist - Linda, is that you?

Mickey, pour the concrete; Vinny, get the shoes. Niagara River here we come....

Quinn - let me know when you have those petitions ready!

All this waterfront talk is getting us away from doing away Harvey. When are the West side boys going take care of this problem for good, if you know what I'm saying