WNY Development & Economic Affairs
PAST EVENTS:
On June 20, 2007 the WNY Coalition for Progress partnered with
WNYMedia.net to bring you
BASS PROS & CONS : A Debate about the Canalside Project
  The WNY Coalition for Progress would like to thank everyone for their hard and dedicated work to help make BASS PROS & CONS : A Debate about the Canalside Project an overwhelming success.
Over 160 people came out, as well as members of most press outlets. Thank you to WNYMedia.net for partnering with us, providing us with manpower, ideas, video and helping us get the word out.
To the panelists, Scot Fisher, Larry Quinn, Jim Ostrowski, and Carl Paladino for agreeing to participate and provinding a thought-provocing discussion. We thank Stefan Mychajliw for keeping the evening moving along beautifully. And finally to all the people who came out and made this event so successful, THANK YOU!
Check out news coverage here and pictures from the event here.
SPRING SHORELINE SWEEP 2007
Each year the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper coordinates shoreline clean-ups on the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Cazenovia Creek, Scajaquada Creek, Buffalo Creek, Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda Creek, and Cayuga Creek.
The Coalition helped out Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper for the second year in a row. The details for this years Coalition site were as follows:
CLEANUP SITE: Gallagher Beach
DATE and TIME: Saturday, April 21, 2007 12pm-2pm
At the last meeting on March 27, 2007, the following was on the agenda:
Smart Parking
Possibly do a symposium on it
Talk to bflo civic ramps
Discuss with manufacturers – see what the cutting edge is
Check out existing parking studies, talk to creators
Propose that buffalo come up with a parking plan so that ad hoc battles needn’t be waged every time parking is brought up
My View/Another Voice - need to finish up piece on poverty in Buffalo & WNY
Review waterfront/Canal Side Plans
Is this just another silver bullet
Benderson builds plazas – who’s to say they’ll incorporate urbanism into their design
What if they use loads of public money to build the whole thing and no one moves in?
Why can’t they just lay out the infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, utilities), zone it pursuant to smartcode principles, and let the private sector develop it on its own dime?
Updates - There are lots of things going on in town that get announced with loads of fanfare, but then are ignored. Discuss status of each and then add updates to the Coalition's blog:
Peace bridge
Canal terminus
Outer harbor
Cars to main street
Extension of metro rail
Toll booth building removal
Canal side
Cobblestone district
Erie Co. Charter Revision Implementation
NFTA & Street furniture
Why is the NFTA spending its own money to build and maintain street furniture (bus stops, benches, etc) when there are at least two companies in the country that cut deals to build and maintain beautifully designed street furniture at no public cost? JC Deceaux and Wall Systems, GmbH both do it in the US. Maybe Buffalo needs this, too.
A paper endorsing the reforms proposed by NYU Law’s Brennan Center viz. NYS legislature.
Erie County Legislature Chairwoman Lynn Marinelli Provides her State of the Legislature to the Coalition
On February 20, 2007, Erie County Legislature Chairperson Lynn Marinelli presented her State of the Legislature to the Coalition during its quarterly General Meeting.
To read a report on the meeting and Ms. Marinelli's address please check out Buffalopundit post at our blog.
To view Chairwoman Marinelli's Presentation please click here.
THANK YOU!!!!
On December 9, 10, 16, and 17, the Coalition and Revitalize Buffalo revived Santaland for 2006. This event not only revived a longstanding tradition that would otherwise not have happened due to county budget cuts, but also highlighted a need and directly benefited the Food Bank of WNY.
First and foremost, the organizers of Santaland 2006 would like to thank our volunteers. Without the assistance of about 40 average Western New Yorkers who gave tirelessly and selflessly of their time and effort, Santaland could not have happened. In addition, without the assistance of local businesses, the event would have been untenable. Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo and Western New York gave visiting children free books to take home. Drew Cerza of the National Buffalo Wing Festival provided logistical assistance necessary to hold the event. One anonymous plaintiffs’ personal injury law firm provided monetary assistance. Local Internet site WNYMedia.net provided internet hosting and multimedia services for the Santaland event. Raffle items were provided by Studio Arena Theatre, ChocoLogo, and Steve Tasker.
The cash donation to the Food Bank of WNY will be $1,159.10 in addition to the cocoa, cookies, baby formula and food donations we collected over the 2 weekends.
The folks at the WNY Coalition for Progress and Revitalize Buffalo would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and joyous New Year.
Click here for a slideshow from day one of the event.
Click here for a slideshow from day two of the event.
Click here for a slideshow from weekend two of the event.
On June 26th, the WNY Development & Economic Affairs working group met to discuss the upcoming the recommendations of the Erie County Charter Review Commission and compare them to the Coalition's recommendations, as well as to discuss the proposed Seneca Nation's Buffalo Creek casino and the impact New York State's Medicaid burden has on WNY's counties.
Keep your eyes out for a report on the Charter Review Commission's recommendations as well as more information on a potential panel discussion on the future use of the Elmwood/Forest Avenue Richardson Complex.
At its meeting on May 16th and April 30th meetings,, the WNY Development and Economic Affairs Working Group updated its progress concerning the organizing of the open forum on legislative reform proposals and reviewed the response it has received since issuing its Report and Recommendations on revising Erie County's Charter.
We discussed the Charter Revision Commission public hearings and the fact that we would like a member of the WNY Coalition for Progress to be at each of them and speak on our report on County Government and the revision of Erie County's Charter. The hearings are scheduled for 6:00pm on May 31st at Erie Community College North Campus, June 1st at Erie Community College South Campus and June 6th at B.W. Smith Life Center at St. John the Baptist Church, Michigan and Goodell Streets.
We then went on to talk about the screening and panel discussion of the Wal Mart: High Cost of Low Price movie in Hamburg. We will be contacting the Town of Hamburg to find out when a vote and/or public meeting will be held on the proposed construction of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter at the Brierwood Square shopping center in order to schedule a date and get panel members.
And finally we decided that we would like to have a combined meeting of the WNY Development Working Group with the Media & Communications Working Group on May 16th, 5:30pm at JP Bullfeathers, to discuss ideas for future local shows of the WNY Progress Report - the weekly radio voice of the Coalition.
Reforming County Government
On Tuesday April 11, 2006, the WNY Coalition for Progress held a
press conference to issue its comprehensive report on County Government and the revision of Erie County's Charter.
Members of the Coalition's Board of Directors joined President Alan
Bedenko on the steps of Old County Hall in downtown Buffalo to
release the report to the public and media. A copy of the report was
filed with the Erie County Legislature, which will ultimately vote on
the Erie County Charter Revision Commission's recommendation.
The press conference was covered by WGRZ TV-2, WIVB TV-4, WKBW TV-7,
WBEN 930-AM, WBFO 88.7-FM, and WNED 970-AM.
Click here to watch the press conference courtesy of wnymedia.net. 
Click here to read the Coalition's recommendations for reforming County
government.
Click here to read the Coalition's full report.
The WNY Coalition for Progress Issues a Report on the Proposed Bass Pro Project
On Tuesday, July 5, 2005, the Western New York Coalition for Progress issued a comprehensive report in favor of the proposed Bass Pro/Memorial Auditorium rehabilitation project. Over the past 6-months The Western New York Development Working Group has been preparing this report and on July 5th released it at a very successful press conference.
Please click here to read the report!
During this time of budgetary uncertainty in Erie County the WNY Coalition for Progress' WNY Development & Economic Affairs Working group has been meeting with great regularity. Members of this Group helped draft the Coalition's Statement on the Erie County Budget Crisis.
If you would like to play a part in the Working Group please e-mail Working Group Chairperson Alan Bedenko.
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