Here's a note to our many friends from Buffalo and its environs.
We're not the morons who elected Joel Giambra and put our trust in the robber barons at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. We didn't do that in Niagara County, they didn't do it in Cattaraugus County or in Chautauqua or Allegany counties.
You did it. And then you compounded your error by directing your Legislature to turn down an increase in the Erie County sales tax of one cent, which would have taken care of the whole problem.
And what has been the result of your actions? For one thing, you now have but one Department of Motor Vehicles office to serve your entire misbegotten county. Lines to renew your driver's license or get a new set of plates snake around the block. And so you've decided that, rather than living with the consequences of your own foolish actions, you'll motor on over to some neighboring community, one located outside Erie County, and take advantage of our DMV services.
You know what? That's rude, and it ought to be illegal. What makes it even worse is the way many of you act when you get here. Put out, inconvenienced, short and nasty. One could easily wonder whether people from Erie County lost their manners when they lost their sense.
Perhaps no one ever told you before, but actions have consequences. The total and complete meltdown of Erie County government and its services has been one of those consequences. So suck it up, because it's your own damn fault.
If you want to keep electing the crooks the Buffalo News tells you to elect, go right ahead. And if you want fellows like Andrew Rudnick to advise you on the efficacy of shutting down hospitals and slashing services, that's your prerogative.
Just don't come crying to us when the results of your sheeplike behavior include having to stand in long lines with your fellow sheep. It's an interesting thing about sheep, you know. They get fleeced.
Awhile back, we had a bunch of shills for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership down here touting the benefits of "regionalism." Guys like Steve Braver at the Niagara Gazette, Bobby Newman, Steve Brady, Earl Wells and Kelly Brannen at the Chamber and Kevin Schuler at the county Industrial Development Agency. The ones we didn't manage to run out of town are now keeping their heads down.
It will be a long time before these snake-oil salesmen again can argue that it would be in our best interests to throw our lot in with the pond scum that runs Erie County and the "Greater Buffalo" area.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 15 2005 |