Saturday, January 3, 2015

THIS YEAR OFF TO A NOT-SO-GOOD START

Cripes, 2015 is already off to a bad start. One of my political heroes, Mario Cuomo died on New Year's Day hours after his son Andrew was sworn in for a second term as governor of New York. Mario had served three terms as governor and would have had a fourth term except that he came out strongly against the death penalty.

Then I read that Niagara Falls potential medical marijuana grow-ops are meeting fierce opposition from residents and, council is backing them up, claiming that city staff misled council. Councillor Ionannoni said: "I feel extremely duped." Applications for the former Redpath Sugar plant and the former Kimberly Clark plant were granted based on the applicants' plan to run a "nursery for trees, plants and shrubs." The public meeting was not attended by many neighbours of the proposed sites since the cultivation of medical marijuana was not mentioned in the public notice. When the true plan came to light, residents showed up in large numbers to a special meeting of council on January 2. 

I can only see how Fort Erie town staff (especially developer-friendly town planner Rino Mostacci) pushed through the Bay Beach proposal despite fierce opposition by the people. Unlike Niagara Falls, Fort Erie council fell in line behind the high-rise crazed Mostacci and ignored those opposed to the rape of publicly owned beachfront property. (I know. Still smarting from that outrage as well as the outrageous lawsuits brought against four councillors.)

In April, we may finally be done with the Conflict of Interest lawsuit against Bob Steckley, John Hill, Don Lubberts and Paul Collard. Sadly, Rick Shular will not be able to recant the lies he told under oath, but he did manage to connect EDTC GM Jim Thibert to the plot to sue the four. A new judge will hear the case which, IMHO, should have been thrown out before it even got started. No word on the separate COI case against Don Lubberts that was filed by conflict-challenged Jim Thibert. The taxpayers may be paying for the case against Lubberts like they paid for the slander suit against me brought forth by thin-skinned Thibert. Some day the truth will come out and everything that was said on my blog about Thibert will be verified.

UPDATE: It appears that there was a murder in Ridgeway over the weekend. No media coverage of a man's body found in his house on Prospect Road. He was a victim of "blunt force trauma." 


Well, it certainly got cold in the past day. By Saturday, Polar Bear dippers will get a real treat in the icy cold weather. No worries though, lots of Chili for everyone at the Chili Cook-off after the dip.



Meanwhile, in Buffalo, the Canalside ice rink is open. Too bad someone doesn't do that here.

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