Bruce Andriatch: If you say no, you must live on the Island
If Buffalo is the City of No Illusions, then maybe Grand Island is the Town of No. (Updated: 11/24/09 7:45 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Intersection camera idea wise but futile
Lancaster Mayor William Cansdale is the kind of driver who doesn’t automatically pull forward the second the traffic light at Broadway and Central Avenue turns green. Good thing. Otherwise, we might be talking about the kind of driver he was. (Updated: 11/17/09 7:44 AM )
Tea Party? In Boston, it works again
There’s bound to be some confusion if you call your political party the Boston Tea Party, when the Boston doesn’t refer to the Boston and the tea party doesn’t refer to that tea party. (Updated: 11/10/09 7:00 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: ‘Unopposed’ is easy, but it isn’t the best
Hamburg Highway Superintendent Thomas Best has a name that other politicians can only dream about. The slogan possibilities are endless. (Updated: 10/27/09 7:43 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Surrendering of identity is test for reform
The voters in Limestone know a thing or two about merging. In 1995, residents of the small community in Cattaraugus County narrowly approved a measure to merge their school district with neighboring Allegany’s. (Updated: 10/20/09 8:51 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Counting up overload of electioneering
Over the next three weeks, you will constantly hear the names and see the faces of the men and women who are counting on your vote on Election Day. By Halloween, you will have heard so much campaign advertising that you may inadvertently be ending sentences by saying, “. . . and I approve this message.” (Updated: 10/13/09 8:35 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Trying to find the e-mailers’ inner NIMBY
When Clarence residents complain about the possibility of a new Wegmans being built on Transit Road near their neighborhood, they say people don’t know what it would be like to live in the shadow of a huge supermarket. (Updated: 10/06/09 7:45 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Reviving idea that kids can walk to school
In the 1970s, more than half the children who attended school in the United States did
something that must seem almost cruel and certainly unusual to today's students: They walked
to school. (Updated: 09/29/09 12:38 PM )
When reform is less than meets the eye
In the real world, when people leave a job either on their own or after some prodding from above, and other people are not hired to replace them (see “downsizing”), the employees fortunate enough to still have jobs have to pick up the slack. (Updated: 09/22/09 6:56 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Tailoring reformism to suit Alden
Something about Alden apparently screams out, “Change this government!” (Updated: 09/15/09 7:46 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: It makes no sense to keep kids off plane
I saw a sad thing last week. A group of six children was at Kenney Field in the Town of Tonawanda, checking out the new veterans memorial with people who looked to be their grandparents. The children, whose ages appeared to be in the 6-to 10-year-old range, began walking toward the blue airplane, an F9F-6P Cougar, which has been at the park for 50 years. (Updated: 09/08/09 7:48 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Exceeding speed limit has no upside
Lawmakers fall all over one another trying to pass new laws that will prevent more fatal motor vehicle accidents. That’s why seat belt use is mandatory, why drivers and passengers are effectively surrounded by air bags and why sending a text message while driving is now both incredibly stupid and illegal. (Updated: 08/25/09 7:45 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Fear stalks plan to blaze a new trail
At some point, we heard the word “Dallas,” and the first thought in our collective mind was not Kennedy. At some point, we heard “space shuttle” and did not immediately think of the Challenger. (Updated: 08/18/09 7:53 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Summer got you down? Be positive
It has become a familiar scene in Western New York this “summer.” Dozens of people huddled under umbrellas and awnings. The sound of raindrops pelting collapsible tents. The air filled with the aroma of taco dip, light beer and citronella mixed with soggy clothes and wet peat moss. (Updated: 07/28/09 7:44 AM )
Bruce Andriatch: Opportunity knocks for embezzlers
The economy might be near its lowest point ever, but there is still plenty of money to be had at jobs in Western New York. (Updated: 07/21/09 7:52 AM )