Chalkie Gerzowski

Ashley Simpson

Let's just say that they opened up a new Bass Pro in Harrisburg, PA. I don't recall Govnah Rendell attending its opening or having a press conference. Yes, it received some publicity but nothing out of the ordinary. Local rags gave an overview of the Bass Pro company and talked about the opening of the store. I believe it is an anchor store at a Harrisburg area mall. There's also one in Baltimore, but I wasn't even aware of it. I never read/heard/saw anything about the Bass Pro in Baltimore. I guess when a city like that, which has spent 30 or more years revitalizing its harbor area, something like Bass Pro becomes small potatoes.

Wiley is a pretty good guy.....I would say he ain't a whole helluva lot as a player. He likes to promote himself a bit, but overall he seems to be a genuinely good guy. I think he got beat up in the Thanksgiving game against the Bears. He left the Bills with a bit too big a chip on his shoulder, when they had the mass exodus to San Diego. I saw Wiley on tv with a Bob McAdoo Braves throwback jersey on a while back. Classic!

It's better than a mothballed Memorial Auditorium. Damn thing was falling apart. The asbestos from the roof was starting to fall apart. The walkway leading up to it was in a shambles. Tough to sell someone on revitalizing the downtown/waterfront when you have an impending eyesore sitting smack dab in the middle of downtown. Baltimore did a nice job on their waterfront, but it was more than 30 years in the making. It's also a good cover for the rest of the city's ills.

Credit should go to a newer coaching staff for pulling out of 0-4 and become 5-6.

well, if it's fair to compare JP Losman to Eli Manning, then it must be fair to compare Drew Bledsoe to Peyton Manning. After all, each should be playing to the level of the Mannings.

I don't think all those other teams will collapse. An 0-4 start is probably too difficult to overcome. The Bills haven't really beaten a real difficult team yet either. St. Louis and Seattle have their moments, but they are wishy-washy.

If Bledsoe and the team can run the table to 10-6, make the playoffs? And Bledsoe is a factor in winning the games? Who knows? Anything less and there has to be an open competition. Truthfully there should be an open competition for the QB job in next year's training camp. You never rest on your laurels.

Now there's a leader. His role as Robert E. Lee was outstanding. STAND UP AND FIGHT FOR THE CONFEDERASAW!!!!!!!

and my family ancestry has been in Buffalo since 1830. Prolly longer than most.

Last I checked it was 16, but THEY ARE REALLY GOOD DAYS!!!!! Seriously though, a lake breeze is nice in July and August. Natural air-conditioning. You guys don't know heat till you venture down to the mid-Atlantic and southward. I must say though, recent summers in Maryland have been pretty decent. No crazy 95 days all the time. If I had the perfect schedule, I would be in Buffalo from May 15th to January 5th. Outside of that, I am in the sunbelt.

It's like trying to bail out the Irish during the potato famine. "SEAMUS.......ALL IS WELL HERE IN THE RESEARCH TRIANGLE.......I HAD A WEE LIDDLE JOB AS A SOFTWARE ENGINEER, BUT NOW ME MAKES MORE MONEY SELLING SUBSCRIPTIONS OF VIBE.....I WILL SEND FOR YOU AND MOTHER WHEN I HAVE THE FUNDS......HOPE ALL IS WELL WITH THE BOTH OF YOU AS ANOTHER HORRIBLE WINTER SETS IN. REMEMBER TO SET YER THERMOSTAT TO 50 DEGREES OR NATIONAL FOOL WILL FIND A WAY TO HAVE YOU EVICTED." SINCERELY, PATRICK

Boating and recreational fishing are very popular in the summer. Either boating on the Niagara river or on Lake Erie, either the US or Canadian sides. I grew up around that. Grandfather had a 38 foot cabin cruiser docked off of Buffalo's west side, or Grand Island's yacht club. Another relative has a cottage on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.....people around the country wouldn't realize that recreational boating has been a widely popular activity in Buffalo for many decades.

Detroit is much worse than Buffalo.....much worse. I've seen Detroit suburbs too......you guys have Cheektowaga style housing tracts that run about 170k. Maybe a median price nationally, but I can't imagine anyone buying the average house in Cheektowaga and spending 170k and upwards. I'll throw out some positives......find me another city of comparable size with two pro sports teams. Find me a city of comparable size with an outstanding Olmsted created parks and parkway system.....how many Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Philadelphia? Cultural value for the size of the city is fantastic. Summer weather.....not many places are as good. Plenty of neighborhoods in the city that are very nice.....Elmwood-Delaware-Linwood tracts.....North Buffalo......revitalization of Hertel Ave. Not a slam, but I would take Buffalo over Detroit any day of the week.

Because other metropolitan areas operate under the premise of "How will this benefit the community as a whole." The Buffalo area has one industrial development agency after another. None are on the same page, and what results is scattershot development with no true focus on what should be benefitting the metropolitan area as a whole. People from the suburbs cannot close themselves off from the city's woes. They can hide their heads in the sand but eventually the cancer will reach them as well. There should have been metropolitan govt. a long time ago. The Buffalo area's problem is continually playing catch-up with the rest of the nation. Trying to overturn the mistakes of 40+ years of public policy is going to be extremely difficult. And how do you manage that when your metropolitan location is in one the most anti-business/entrepreunerial states in the country? How do you convince a company to move to the area when National Fool charges utility rates through the roof? People don't agree on moving things forward because they don't understand that they need to weigh the benefits for all residents, not just their local neighborhood, or this or that suburb. What needs to be done up in the Buffalo area is to create a completely new mind-set on how govt. and a metropolitan area are supposed to operate.....that the politics of antagonism for the last 40 years has sold the city down the river. Buffalo is one of the most paralyzed communities in the nation. People up there are fearful of true change. They've become that way from listening to decades of bunk from business leadership and politicians. If Buffalo wants to be successful again, they may have to import the success.

.......this is kettle.........Whaaaaaaaaazup??????

I just found a bean that looks like DREW! errr, the leader. Another glass of grape kool-aid please......

People would be banned for what? People take a messageboard so seriously that certain queries become overly detrimental to their lives????? RU Serious?

"We have a Metro Rail that goes nowhere and it closed Main Street to car traffic which in turn forced almost every single store on Main Streert to close over the last 20 years. (Go walk down Main Street on a Saturday morning- afternoon- you will be the only one there) and the Main Place Mall is virtually empty (Jim Kelly's Bar & Restaurant used to be part of the complex and it was never reopened as anything else) They have been talking about reopening Main Street to traffic for 5 years now and the City Gov't just lost the funding that was in place from the Federal Gov't to reopen Main Street because they just let the bill expire. Peace Bridge. They have been arguing on what kind of a bridge to build and where to build it for over 14 years. They could have torn down and built 5 brand new bridges in that time. Convention Center that was built in the early 70's is totally outdated and costs the City millions in lost revenue every year. Dunn Tire Park- Home of the Bisons. Has been open for 15 years now. It was starting to fall apart because the City couldn't pay for repairs so they let Erie County take over. Attendance has been falling every year from over 1,000,000 in the early 90's to just over 500,000 this past season. Buffalo Zoo was in disrepair until Erie County took over. Waterfront Development? There hasn't been ANY since the 1950's until Brian Higgins got funding for some sort of park to be built. WHOO-HOO! Nothing there except abandoned grain mills and the old Pier Bar & Restaurant that closed 4 years ago. There are more parking ramps than anything else in Downtown Buffalo except boarded up and abandoned buildings. Less than 1,000 people actually live Downtown becasue there are so few apartments, townhouses and Condos. There aren't any stores to speak of. They have actually started building a few apartments over the last few years. The Skyway is not only a treacherous stretch of road, it cuts Downtown in half. They have been talking for 10 years now about knocking it down. The City has been using Federal Block Grant money to repay on defaulted loans and to pay City salaries to the tune of $550 MILLION dollars over the last 25 years instead of using it for rebuilding and renovating homes and businesses around Buffalo. No NHL means the HSBC Arena is pretty much just sitting there empty. There have been less than a half dozen events there since September. A few concerts, an AHL game and wrestling. It still costs the taxpayers money to keep it running even though nothing is going on. The nearby bars are taking a real beating as well. The failed Adelphia Building. That has a whole other set of problems that came from that fiasco. There are a few theaters and a few bars that are doing OK. Other than that, Downtown Buffalo is a place that people come to work and then go home to the suburbs or come down for a baseball game or a hockey game and maybe go to a restaurant or bar and then go back to the suburbs. The Aud has been sitting there boarded up and empty for almost 8 years now. Now the taxpayers have to foot the bill for a Fishing & Hunting Store that is not needed but just another desperate attempt at a miracle to save the City? No Thanks. I would get rid of all the politicians and all the layers of government and start over." Jobs......it's more than that, but private industry and jobs with quality salaries. Beyond that you throw every !@#$ who is in office out on the street.....you actually have a mayoral race WHERE SOMEONE RUNS AGAINST THE MAYOR!!!!! ANYONE!!!!!! EVEN A COMMUNIST PARTY CANDIDATE!!!!! Holy friggin hell......how did that friggin happen??????? How are Dale Volker and Mary Lou Rath, and Sandra Lee Wirthless still raking in congressional paychecks??? God damn disgusting. No one has the right to complain when every goddamned useless assemblyman or woman who is an incumbent was voted back in. GUESS WHAT BUFFALO, IT'S TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!!!!!! THE LAZY ELECTORATE IS ALSO PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!! And you cannot keep losing college graduates year after year. I have more friends who have left the area than stayed. I'm sure this is the case for many people. You have a population that continually grows older, with more retirees. You have college graduates moving into their peak years earning wise, and they are in Raleigh-Durham and Austin, and Phoenix and Tampa-St. Pete and Atlanta. Those dollars aren't coming back home are they? The money for discretionary income just isn't there anymore. You wonder why the hockey arena can be half empty on some nights? Is it the ticket prices or is it the piddling salary level in Erie Co.? People say downtown is dead.....is it dead, or are there not enough people with enough Franklins in the area to spend a night at the theater? Perhaps people are too busy giving blood to pay National Fool their monthly bloodmoney? I wish I could say there's a positive future in store for Buffalo and Western NY. There isn't. It isn't about being negative on the future of the area. It's about seeing systematic failures for 40 years compound themselves. I don't know how the hell Buffalo digs itself out of its problems. By the time they do, they'll find themselves in Shanghai. Good luck.

I believe the Adelphia HQ has moved to Denver. Bits and pieces of Adelphia are being sold off. Isn't Comcast going to perhaps buy them out completely? The Adelphia thing was basically shifted to this Geico calling center. I know exactly what has to happen in Buffalo, but there is a 2% chance of it happening, and perhaps the opportunity has passed on by. The scientist Skolnick at UB.....that genome project. He has to be the one who cracks the codes. Pie in the sky, but the area needs that pharmaceutical windfall to take place in the Buffalo area. Where to build? Way too many roadblocks, but the former site of Bethlehem Steel.....imagine that area being turned into some massive pharmaceutical campus! Wow, that would have been extraordinary. One major roadblock.....there's green goo leftovers from the Manhattan Project sitting underneath the Bethlehem Steel site. But think about it.....you extend the light rail over the Buffalo river and through the woods to gr......no wait...... ......you extend the light rail from the hockey arenas, over the Buffalo river, along the side of route 5 to this new, state of the art pharmaceutical campus area. One pharma after another located on the former Bethlehem Steel site.....a new critical mass of high paying jobs and a real kick in the arse to get things moving. Area would have been better served though, 40 years ago, had they placed the UB campus downtown, along the Buffalo river, or along the lakefront. Can you imagine the kind of intellectual spinoff that would have occurred there in the last 40 years??? Why is it that these kinds of ideas are so foreign to Buffalo and upstate NY?

But you people don't rid yourselves of the politicians. Buffalo is a collective mass of idiocy.....from the politicians to the business "leaders" to the nimrods populating the area.

58th NY Senate District R MAZURKIEWICZ, JULIEANNE 30,415 29% D STACHOWSKI, WILLIAM T Totals 76,115 71% 59th NY Senate District R VOLKER, DALE M 39,368 78% I VOLKER, DALE M 4,799 9% C VOLKER, DALE M 3,808 8% W VOLKER, DALE M 2,658 5% VOLKER, DALE M Totals 50,633 100% Office Totals 50,633 100% Dale Volker's in a race that only Saddam Hussein could appreciate. 60th NY Senate District R COPPOLA, ALFRED T 16,621 22% D BROWN, BYRON W 50,405 67% I BROWN, BYRON W 3,338 4% C BROWN, BYRON W 1,564 2% W BROWN, BYRON W 3,066 4% BROWN, BYRON W Totals 58,373 78% Office Totals 74,994 100% There's always a "Coppola" running. It's like the William Jennings Bryan of Buffalo politics. "AH MAY LOSE, BUT DAMBIT, AHMMAH RUNNIN!!!" 61st NY Senate District R RATH, MARY LOU 53,725 55% I RATH, MARY LOU 5,542 6% C RATH, MARY LOU 3,862 4% RATH, MARY LOU Totals 63,129 64% D LONGO, FRANK J 35,074 36% Office Totals 98,203 100% Mary Lou Rath.....could there be anyone more useless? I saw her sit on a panel 8 years ago.....2.5 hour discussion. Not once did she open up her mouth, NOT ONCE!!!!! I'm pretty sure she took a turn pouring water into her glass, but that was it. "DADDY GOT ME MY JOB!!!!!! DAHHHHHHHHH CARTMAAN!!!!!! DAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Then the Assembly districts......Schimminger, Peoples, Sandra Lee Worthless, Tokasz, Hoyt.....all the incumbents won. They were all in office at least 10 years ago. Brian Higgins is headed to DC, taking Jack Quinn's spot. Maybe that was a bit of a bright light for election day.

LOL, I don't think I could have said it any better. Masiello ran unopposed a few years ago. Incredible. It's certainly the "D's", but also if you are an incumbent "R" like Dale Volker.....that gravy train is pretty damn nice.

You can't blame Pataki for that. Nobody knew that Rigas was serious about destroying his own company.

Did you guys vote the incumbent retards out a few weeks back? Me thinks not.