The Buffalo News : Opinion

In each of the last two months a nationally recognized authority on the economic benefits of regional collaboration has come to Buffalo and made a public statement critical of our elected officials.

Alittle over a year ago, the Rockefeller Institute of Government held a public policy forum on “Gubernatorial Succession and the Powers of the Lieutenant Governor.” We were then two months into the current vacancy in the lieutenant governor’s office created when then-Lt.Gov. David A. Paterson replaced Eliot L. Spitzer as governor.

Allegany State Park has no master plan. This magnificent park is 100 square miles of hills and forest on the Pennsylvania border just 70 miles south of Buffalo. A half million of us go to play there every year. Allegany deserves not only a plan but “Forever Wild” protection in the State Nature and Historical Preserve.

In 1998 I was diagnosed with an aggressive case of prostate cancer (Gleason Score 8). A community-based urologist operated and a community-based radiation oncologist provided the radiation. I remained in remission for 10 years due to their efforts.

I would like to point out that the demolition of the Busti homes by the Bridge Authority was not illegal as indicated by Sam Hoyt and David Rivera in a June 18 letter. There was a 2004 agreement between former Mayor Masiello, Common Council and the bridge authority to have the city demolish the houses.

So the legislators unanimously approved reduction to 13 seats. It is deplorable they voted to extend their job by two years. You have to love quid pro quo. Why didn’t they also vote for a pay increase?

I traveled down to Allegany in October last year to visit an old friend. After lunch, I drove up the street to visit my alma mater: St. Bonaventure University. Nostalgia enveloped me as I crossed the bridge and spied the lovely venerable brick buildings off to my right.

If ever I were to write a gardening book, its title would be “Lazy Person’s Guide To Gardening.” I don’t like dirt, I really don’t like worms, and the less time I spend with them, the better. Tend a garden? My time may be spent better elsewhere. Or, so I thought until today.

When my Ukrainian family came to the United States in 1965 they could not speak English and enrolled in “foreign language” classes. Little did my grandmother know church halls across Buffalo would become a second classroom, as she quickly learned to count from 1-75 and spell the letters B-I-N-G-O.