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NOV 12 - NOV 19, 2015

Only in NT - Q uestions for Duly Elected O fficials

Sweeney Payne

NOV 12, 2015

We criticize, moan and groan—but we continue to allow incumbents to be elected and re-elected because those supporting other candidates don’t get out to vote, often aren’t even registered voters. Two-thirds of those eligible to vote don’t, not just in NT, but in general nationally.

NT’s citizens have more questions than they ever get answers to. When among residents of other Niagara County communities, NT residents are often asked why we elect people so poorly qualified to hold the offices they hold. We aren’t interested in political witch hunts.  We want honest, sincere public servants who realize they are supposed to report to us, not to themselves and/or any political party.  We will support them when the live up to that responsibility.

Our Mayor for the next two years tried unsuccessfully to be Mayor and an alderman in the past.  We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt but expect to see attention to the concerns of residents in those next two years!

How telling was this year's League of Women Voters of Buffalo & Niagara “Erie & Niagara County Voters Guide”! So many running for office didn't bother to respond to their requests for self-descriptions and answers to question(s) asked. What arrogance!

All the power struggles that go on in NT at the expense of its residents are criminal. Bullies in political office, freeloaders and carpetbagger developers with no respect for anything but their wallets, all vying for control over what is supposed to be a city government serving those who live here, with no one overseeing it.

A small city, residents might be better off if the Town of Wheatfield wasn't too smart to not want it back if the State were petitioned to end the City charter and combine it back into the Town of Wheatfield where it began.

What would make NT a more livable place for ALL of us and our families now and over the next 25 years? What if those in control did things differently, focusing on meeting the needs of those who actually live here as their first priority?

Why does NT have both a community development department and Lumber City Development, but no City grant writer? Why are two entities needed, one a regular department in City government and the other a separate nonprofit that seems to report to no one but itself?

Why is the Downtown “Historic District” becoming a bar district, complete with the accompanying messes its patrons leave behind, little police monitoring,  dangerous conditions with lack of proper regular and immediate snow removal and salting of sidewalks for the inebriated leaving the bars at night in the winter, and keeping nearby residents awake until all hours with its “music”?

Why not?

· Put LCDC to work creating more parking in the downtown area?

·  Lure a grocery operation like Save-a-Lot to the empty auto parts store on Manhattan Street/River Road and a drugstore to NT’s side of the Canal downtown? There's more than 12,000 square feet of space in there. That parcel has 1.1 acres and is adjacent to the Manhattan Street municipal parking lot.

· Insure prompt removal of snow and ice downtown during winter? Downtown is not a privately-owned shopping plaza.  NT has to remove the snow and ice from the curbs far better than they did last winter.

· Set a resident-friendly closure hour for bars with loud music?

· A serious police presence during late night and early morning hours when taverns let out their patrons, especially on weekends?

· Enforcement of state and local ordinances on fines for littering or causing damage to non-bar buildings downtown?

· Provide residents with serious opportunities to have input on streets and sidewalks needing to be fixed?

· Install more signage within NT and at its borders so that visitors and residents alike know where various places are located?

· Lure a new car dealership or a large medical practice to the still vacant part of the Buffalo Bolt property?

· Or lure the large medical practice to the empty school building property on Payne Avenue?

· Give residents back our waterfront on the Niagara River to make up for how much past decisions have taken away from us on the Canal?

Is it possible to?

· Take a cue from Mr. & Mrs. Catering on Oliver Street and paint the round planters on Oliver Street bright colors?

· Find “light manufacturing” to build on the apparently 10 acres of more of empty property on Zimmerman Street in the drainage area from the former chemical operation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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