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Bob Lamb RFA

Bob Lamb

Posted
Posted
What part of canada does the peace bridge take you to?

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Fort Erie & The Niagara Peninsula where much of Canadian and early American history (on the then) western frontier occurred.

 

Canada didn't become a Confederation until 1867 and after the Civil War - some Yankees wanted to use the standing Union armies to make a "little" land grab further north

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mcjeff215 Veteran

mcjeff215

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...before those morons up in Buffalo ever figure out what to do with the Peace Bridge.

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20041127/1052157.asp

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Yet more reasons I don't want to live there until they figure out how to run the place. I miss WNY like you wouldn't believe, but for the love of all that is good.... they can't seem to do anything right.

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Fake-Fat Sunny Veteran

Fake-Fat Sunny

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This issue always runs into a fundamental contradiction which causes final plans to founder. This is that building the best river crossing for products-based economics outcome and building the best river crossing for a service-based economic crossing are two different things.

 

If one is transporting products, the important things are Point A and Point Z. A is where it is manufactured and Z is where it is sold. To the extent that anything involving Points B through Y are anything more than speed bumps you have slowed the process and the transfer of products is less efficient.

 

On the other hand, a service-based crossing is based on getting people moved around so they can stop and go to hotels, eat at restaurants, go to cultural locations etcetera.

 

The Peace Bridge issue simply founders as Buffalo and Fort Erie are looking to build a crossing which enhances it as a gateway and allows and attracts shoppers, tourists and folks to come to this gateway and have a great time and spend their nickels.

 

On the other hand, the powers that be which control the Peace Bridge Authority want to build something which attracts good manufactered using cheaper labor in Canada to get to US markets in Boston, NYC, DC, Pittburght etcetera and also goods manufactered by the enormous US economic engine to get to markets in Toronto. The PBA wants to continue to be the troll which collects the tolls for this inter-country commerce.

 

 

I think the real problem here is that the goods-based expansion of the Peace Bridge crossing is continually sold as an economic engine for the region when it simply is not. Sure tons of money will be skimmed off the cross-border transfer of goods, but it actually will go to payback the bonds issued by the PBA to captialize the expansion of the crossing and those bondholders may live in WNY, but if these capital holders judge it to be a more remunerative investment than some other investment they can live in NYC, Jakarta, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia or wherever.

 

I once taught a class at UB which had the students as a project analyze and describe an economic development project. Like any good students they were much bigger on factoids than context, but hey that is why they are taking the class.

 

The students presented a litany which was not biased in terms of outcomes of what crossing should be selected because the 3 had fairly diverse political views and background. Thy proceeded to lay out why the PBA proposal was not the most cost-efficient method considering a variety of issues such as building materials (ex. a concrete span would be cheaper and more easily maintained than the proposed metal twinning of the current bridge), uncalculated costs (ex. pollution eminating from the truck would likely add large costs borne by the community through hospital costs and welfare payments which were not considered since they were not part of the PBA bridge-building costs), and poor understanding of the economic benefits (ex. the economic benefits were illusory and would not go to residents of the region since a truck driver if he is profitable does not stay at local hotels, go to the opera or eat more than Slim-Jims from the gas station).

 

At any rate, they finished theior presentation and one of the other bright students asked the $64 question. Why would this region even want to build a bridge?

 

Being a reasonable professor I did not provide an answer but instead guided a discussion. We came to the complicated and complex conclusion:

 

You want to build a bridge to get to the other side.

 

Speaking as an American Canada is a neat place. When I drive visitors to Niagara Falls we cross the Peace Bridge and drive up the semi-scenic River Road at 30 miles an hour rather than drive up the concrete US-190 highway at 55-60 mph. My father-in-law ha a summer cottage in Canada which you cross the Peace Bridge to get to. The best Chinese Food east of San Francisco can be found at Ming Teh in Fort Erie. I use and depend on the Peace brdige to help me spend tourist dollars at the Falls, vacation dollars at the cottage, and restaurant dollars.

 

The truck traffic is actually a pain and as it has grown I actually (and my wife who really gets ticked as a type-A sitting in truck traffic) am going less to Canada.

 

Individuals within, beholden to, or who influence or control the PBA stand to make a lot of money as trolls with the tolls, but the benefits for the region are illusory (estimates which I have seen estimate about 3000 new jobs from expanded truck traffic and even these rosy estimates must be somewhat in doubt after 9/11 and this region is looking to replace the 40,000 good-paying jobs lost when the steelmill industry changed and plants closed.

 

In general, I think the Peace Bridge is not be redesigned, approved and built by this region because it actually does little from the designs being chosen to benefit this region economically.

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Live&DieBillsFootball RFA

Live&DieBillsFootball

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Just one more thing wrong with Buffalo. They go through all of the trouble to get the community involved in picking a design and then a year later they decide to start over. Why don't they just build a bridge...any !@#$ing bridge...and get it over with.

 

This bridge will probably not be built for 10-20 years, but in the meantime they will oppose any private effort to build a truck bridge.

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Alaska Darin Hall of Famer

Alaska Darin

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Just one more thing wrong with Buffalo.  They go through all of the trouble to get the community involved in picking a design and then a year later they decide to start over.  Why don't they just build a bridge...any !@#$ing bridge...and get it over with.

 

This bridge will probably not be built for 10-20 years, but in the meantime they will oppose any private effort to build a truck bridge.

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The privately built bridge wouldn't yield another "off the books" revenue stream for NY's already ridiculously bloated bureaucratic governments. Hence the reason they don't let it happen.

 

Man, I miss NY. Just not the government.

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sfladave Veteran

sfladave

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...before those morons up in Buffalo ever figure out what to do with the Peace Bridge.

 

The "original" Peace Bridge was assembled in less than two years

 

http://www.peacebridge.com/news.php?action=viewStory&id=21

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

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"Though the first organized efforts to build a bridge between Fort Erie and Buffalo began as early as 1851, it took more than seven decades before ground was broken. Complicated and conflicting bi-national legislation, opposition by special interest groups, the Great War, and the challenges of conquering the currents of the mighty Niagara River all worked against construction of the Peace Bridge."

 

It doesn't sound as though the process has changed much!

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SilverNRed Veteran

SilverNRed

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Posted
...before those morons up in Buffalo ever figure out what to do with the Peace Bridge.

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20041127/1052157.asp

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Can we seriously just declare the whole "Buffalo" experiment a failure and shut the whole region down?

 

Nice land, nice people, great sports fans, but none of this is working. Everyone could move and we'd turn it into a nature preserve or something. Or just take people on tours of the empty city to show them what a real live city from the 1960s or 1970s looked like. It'll be like Colonial Williamsburg in a few decades.

 

On the other hand, those of us who left can see the value in having all the worst leaders and politicians in the world centralized in one poor city in WNY.

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Chalkie Gerzowski Veteran

Chalkie Gerzowski

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Posted
Why?  They're perfectly happy in their misery.  Just keep pulling the lever with the (D) next to it, everything'll be fine.

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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.

 

:lol:

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Chalkie Gerzowski Veteran

Chalkie Gerzowski

Posted
Posted

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.

 

:lol:

 

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.

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Mike in Syracuse Veteran

Mike in Syracuse

Posted
Posted

...before those morons up in Buffalo ever figure out what to do with the Peace Bridge.

 

The "original" Peace Bridge was assembled in less than two years

 

http://www.peacebridge.com/news.php?action=viewStory&id=21

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

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Were you there for it's original opening? :lol:

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