Entries Tagged 'Comment to bloggers' ↓

I waited to see what Rus Thompson’s take would be on this before sounding off with opinions of my own.

New York State Thruway Authority members give up perk

(WIVB) - Members of the New York State Thruway Authority are giving up a nice perk.

Board members gave in to public pressure Wednesday and agreed to stop using their free E-ZPass tags.

The move comes just one day after the New York Daily News revealed that about 60 past and present board members, many of them multi-millionaires, had received the free tags for life.

Rus Thompson’s reply to it all:

Oh, whoopie frikin do….. 7, only 7? Like this will have a big effect on toll revenue. This practice started in 1965 in union negotiations, there are thousands of these out there. This will do nothing and is simply pandering. Is it a start? Only time will tell. My god there are many, many other places to go to in this bloated budget and the corrupt system.

This does not impress me in the least bit. Do something real, something substantial…. Or our hands tied and we are at the behest of the NYSTA…. Read the noGItolls website for some more real waste.

Agreeing that this move to halt lifelong Ez-Passes for TA members isn’t as substantial as the media/news is making it out to be. IMO, The Thruway Authority thought they could escape pressure by thinking the public would be pacified with them giving up this perk.

Do we buy it? Hell NO!

Back in the simple days when we had a government by to people, for the people we needed not worry about political governing so unfulfilling. Today, all it’s doing is drowning the taxpayers of New York State more and more.

Governor Paterson hires a new person to the Thruway Authority just as it was looking close to having the Grand Island tolls removed. One of the strongest allies of the taxpayers will be replaced with someone new who says she doesn’t know where she stands on the tolls issue. Bull Crap!

Maybe my intentions have been misuderstood….

For Paul & Mrs. Dub who say they can’t wait until the weather gets nicer. Here is my view of Cazenovia Park today:

Well, not as the title would seem but I am “fedup” and I am featured in the lastest Spree WNY BLOGOSPHERE! Awesome!

Thanks to Grilled Cheese who noted it, otherwise I’d have never known.

Got a gripe? Need to vent about things like Jamie Lynn Spears and Bratz dolls? What about tolls and politics in the area? Maybe you had a really bad experience buying a new jeep and you need to tell everyone. Well, Fed Up in WNY is the blog for you! Submit your gripe and discuss it with other pissed-off people at www.fedup.wnymedia.net

The “gripes” … they are all mine and there’s more to being “fedup” than meets the eye While the captioning of “Fed up in WNY” is a little off, (I generally don’t take requests) the appreciation of being mentioned is an honor, to say the least. So, Thank you Buffalo Spree.

Congrats to Paul Dub who was also mentioned.

Click here to see all 6 featured.

There are three WNYmedia.net blog posts running equally & simultaneously asking for Buffalo stories covering 3 different angles.

The Tao of Paul: Why did you stay?

Buffalo Geek: Why did you leave and why did you come back?

Buffalo Pundit: Updating his story of why he’s settled in Buffalo .

I left my story with PaulDub because his question best fit me.

This is my story. I, along with 3 siblings & 2 parents were all born, raised, educated and made a life for ourselves in the City of Buffalo. I am the only family member stilling living within. Some living in other towns, some living in other states. Why do I stay? Because I still beleive in the dream that Buffalo is the greatest place to live, work & raise a family.

Read the rest here

Comments are closed so you can visit & share your Buffalo stories with the other great bloggers who began the conversations.

One of my most fave bloggers on the net is Chris Byrd, I saw this post he made and thought how I relate to his optimism.

You know you are in B-F when…

…the city replaces a one way sign with a recycled one! (Paderewski and Clark Streets)

Nice…speaks volumes don’t you think?

I guess you have to look at the positives…at least there is a sign!

I posted a picture from the other day of my “day away” in Niagara Falls

I (as passenger) took this picture while on one of the Grand Island bridges to Niagara Falls, note the “granny square” patchwork of the surface. We have been taxed for more than I have been alive to ride over these bridges and I wonder every time… what are those tolls being collected for?

Reading on Rus Thompson’s blog today about the tolls, it makes me so “fedup” that I, a life long Buffalo resident, am taxed to see one of the greatest wonders of the world for which our state “works” on bridges (and roadways) that show no results of improving the surfaces that we drive on.

HT Rus Thompson

I came up with this idea to give this section of road to the D.O.T. in late November and discussed it with Senator Maziarz and got his full support. He wrote the Bill sent it to me on Jan 18th for my approval and here we are today Feb 22 having it introduced in Albany.

See we can effect change and the way we do it is by coming up with commonsense ideas and passing them on. It also helps to be a little bit of a thorn in their side. But, the hardest part is keeping it in the forefront, that alone is a full time job. After all we have work to do to support ourselves and family.

I hope & I pray that our politicians won’t “meet & greet” with pats on the back onto each other without standing up for the hard work & dedication of the average citizen who has faught this effort the most. His name is Rus Thompson and don’t no one forget it!

I got an email from Rus Thompson, who I’m sure has been enraged by the news of the tolls increase of 33.3% instead of 10% like was said before.

In part, this is what the email says:

When we were told that tolls were being raised this year we all were under the impression that it was for 10% at least that is what the Thruway Authority told us. Well lo and behold the Grand Island bridge tolls went from 75 cents to a dollar. That is a far cry from 10%, that is a 33.3% increase in tolls. Two years ago the tolls at the bridges were raised from .50 cents to .75 cents. That is a 100% toll increase in two years.

Toll removal or Lawsuit, That is our Only Option

I got this in my email today:

For Immediate Release

Rus Thompson of noGItolls.com has been asked to testify to the Assembly Conference on tolls this Wednesday December 5th at the Assembly Public Hearing to be held at the Mahoney State Office Bldg at 10 AM .

Rus will testify concerning the tolls in WNY, the proposed toll increase and specifically the Grand Island Bridge tolls.

Rus will first give a brief history concerning the 72 years the people have been paying for these bridges, when the thruway authority took them over and reasons why they need to be eliminated.

With the recent revelation that Governor Spitzer will take the surplus from the Thruway Authority to help fill the $4 Billion dollar hole in the States budget and Governor Spitzer’s refusal to allow a toll increase in New York City, this Public hearing and Rus Thompson’s testimony against tolls is sure to be compelling and will hopefully open Western New Yorkers eyes to the extreme injustice we face here and the influence down state has over Albany and the governors office.

Assembly Republican Public Hearing on Proposed Thruway Toll Hike

Chair: Assemblyman Jack Quinn (R,C,I-Hamburg)

Public Hearing: Exploring the negative impact that would be

caused to New York’s motorists and small businesses

if the proposed Thruway toll hike were implemented

Place: Mahoney State Office Building, Part 6, 65 Court St., Buffalo, NY

Time: 10:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

Contact: (Assemblyman Quinn) A.J. Wright (716) 826-1878

Media Contact: Assembly Republican Office of Public Affairs (518) 455-5073

ORAL TESTIMONY BY PRIOR NOTICE ONLY

Have you signed the petition? Sign it now at
http://nogitolls.com/

I left that line on Buffalo Geek’s blog while reading comments.

I made a second comment:

To Jim, how is loss of America jobs to China & Mexico helping us here? Tell me how a middle age hard working man is supposed to support his family when one morning he wakes up, goes to work and finds his manufacturing job has been shut down over night and moved to Mexico?

In the mean time America children are playing with toys tainted with lead-based paint.

I went to the Town Hall meeting at “the Church” and I listened to what was being said. I looked back on living my entire life in Buffalo, NY and I remembered how much industry & manufacturing we have lost. I cheered when John Ratzenberger talked to the audience about questioning our politicians on such losses of American jobs.

In my comment, I asked of one man losing his American job but it probably covered over 1,000 men or women in Western New York in recent years. I asked on the principle of “the American Dream” and how one day it’s all cut short… forcing the-working-class-poor into the servicing and sales industries. The tech industries, the medical, the lawyers, the government vs. the factories & manufacturing of American made goods that Buffalo, Erie County, Western New York once had. In 6 year’s time, New York lost nearly 200,000 manufaturing jobs. I bet everyone is or knows someone of that statistic.

There is nothing wrong with working a service job though. I work in customer service/sales, part-time minimum wage and I’m doing all right in supporting my family, but for how long I wonder.

To the commenter on Geek’s blog who said: “I’m getting very frustrated with the whole “decline of America’s manufacturing base” idea.” Take a ride down in Riverside, Blackrock or the east side of Buffalo and look at the abandoned buildings that were once American manufacturing. That’s where the real frustrations are for Western New Yorkers.

This loss of manufacturing is an epidemic of which will only get worse for the next generation of Americans that our children are now growing up in. What’s their future going to be like for the next 50 years if we can’t (or won’t) show them the way?

For my readership, take a few minutes to browse these links

AmericanManufacturing.org

ManufactureThis.org

AmericansWorking.com

And together we can help “Keep it Made in America”