State gasoline taxes

A federal sales tax of 18.4 cents is imposed on every gallon of gas sold in the US. Then, each state has the ability to tack on some extra state sales taxes on top of that.

this PDF chart shows that New York State imposes an additional 39.6 cent tax on each gallon of gas sold. (In January 2003, it was 33.55 cents/gallon.) The total amount of sales tax does depend on the county sales tax, as well.

So, New Yorkers pay a combined state & federal sales tax of 58 cents/gallon.

Although RI, CA, NV, HI, and WI all broke 30 cents/gallon for state sales tax on a gallon of gas, New York has the distinction of having the highest state sales tax of all 50 states.

Update: Fixed link.

Waterfront Proposals

The 3 NFTA Waterfront proposals are now online in PDF format:


WestEnd a Lakefront creative community (Ciminelli/Jerde)


Outer Harbor Redevelopment Plan (Norstar)


Buffalo Lakefront Development Team (Opus East/Uniland)

Waterfront.

I know I'm sort of linking to myself here, but click this link to see some photos from a wonderful new-urbanism style pedestrian-friendly shopping mall that I visited in Cleveland not too long ago.

I'd like to see something like this along our waterfront.

Hot off the Yahoo! Group

The Working Groups for the WNY Coalition for Progress will be split
into 2 main categories: National and Regional/Local. Based on
initial recommendations here are some proposed working groups (these
are not set in stone, and others will be added and some dropped):

National:

• Moral Identification/Values ("Recapture the Moral Values")
• Federal Election Reform
• Protect Social Security
• Communication/Media Reform
• Foreign Policy/Affairs
• Healthcare/stem cells/prescription drugs
• Free Trade Policies
• Women's Reproductive Rights
• Energy & Environment
• Gay Rights/AIDS Funding
• Separation of Church & State

Regional/Local:

• State/Local Election Reform
• Cross Border Issues
• Employment Issues/Working Wage
• Local Fiscal Policy
• Medicaid Reform
• NY Tax Reform
• Buffalo Media Accountability
• City-County Consolidation/Gov't Accountability
• Reform Albany
• Low Cost Utilities (possibly merged with national "Energy &
• Environment")
• Education Reform
• Development
• Infrastructure/Transportation
• Downtown Development
• Various County Groups (Erie County, Niagara County, Southern Tier, Eastern Counties)

Some of these groups will be merged if they are similar. We are
still taking recommendations and will put in place the initial
working groups after the holidays, so please drop off your
preferences.

Winners & Losers

The News does a sort of post-budget-debacle roundup of winners & losers.

Losers?

• The people of Erie County
• Anyone who shops in Erie County
• Joel Giambra & his credibility

Winners?

• Masiello
• Holt
• Anyone who decides to run for CE in 2007.
  

Apparently, now Joel wants to start his consolidation dog & pony show. Honestly, given the way that Joel has performed, and the way Masiello has performed, I'm ready to give Kevin Gaughan a shot at explaining exactly how a government - consolidated or not - SHOULD be run.

With his craptacular technicolor budgets, Joel Giambra has spent every last *ahem* penny of political capital he had. How on Earth does he expect to be taken seriously as a proponent of a consolidated city-county government. Hell, the Republican county legislators almost universally rejected the "compromise" budget. Only democrat-until-last-year-when-it-was-politically-expedient-to-become-a-Republican Chuck Swanick and Jeanne Chase voted for the budget & sales tax hike.

"Joel is done," Lenihan said. "You can't create an enormous deficit, spend down a surplus, cut taxes and increase spending without facing Judgment Day. Well, this is Judgment Day."

Oh - and there have been at least two scandals under Joel's watch. That we know of. Buffalo Office Furniture & the Aurora Barn.

Hell, the city's run better than the county now. No handout, no bailout indeed.

OneBuffalo.com

Kevin Gaughan (consolidation proponent extraordinaire) has a website:

www.onebuffalo.com

Skyway

By the way. I don't think inner harbor development (including Bass Pro, canal district, etc.) is going to go very far without demolition and replacement of this monstrosity:



It's ugly, it's expensive to maintain, it's dangerous, and no one wants to go shopping or for a stroll in its shadow.

We don't need a big-dig type boondoggle. Just a couple of drawbridges would do.

This bulletin board and the Buffalo Waterfront website seem to back the idea of getting rid of the Peace Bridge.

My initial reaction to waterfront proposal

I'm liking the second proposal. The first one is good because it includes a convention center, which would be a good idea.

The remainder of the project just seems to enormous in scope for me, though.

I'm not crazy about the "green space" proposal because I think that the highest and best use of the land is not going to be a wide expanse of parkland. In other words, I envision the "green space" proposal as an office park-style setting. If you want an office park, go to Amherst.

I like the lifestyle / neighborhood / community plan. I'd like to see a picture.

I'd also like to know whether any of the plans include Skyway demolition and/or Metro Rail extension.

Outer Harbor Proposals out today

There are three proposals from three separate groups. The Buffalo News presented them in order from XXL to S:

Waterfront park

The Buffalo Lakefront Development Team envisions the outer harbor as a large waterfront park. The team is made up of Opus Group of Minneapolis, Uniland Development of Amherst, VOA Associates of Chicago, Urban Retail Properties of Chicago and BIDCO of Buffalo. The marquee elements of its $750 million proposal include:



- A 300,000-square-foot convention center

- A 3,500-room convention hotel and winter garden complex

- More than 1,000 apartments, townhouses and condominiums

- A 215,000-square-foot sports center

- A 4,500-seat amphitheater

- A 150-suite hotel/water park/aquarium complex

- A 500,000-square-foot festival pavilion

- 200,000 square feet of Class A office space and

- 236 boat slips.

This plan blends high- and low-rise dwellings and entertainment venues with a newly created system of canals, a beach, sports fields, parks and an expansive harborside esplanade. The Lakefront team proposes to develop the "regional civic, sports and entertainment destination" in six increments over seven years.

New community

WestEnd Development Partnership proposes creation of a new lakefront community called WestEnd, designed to provide a live, work and play environment, particularly attractive to young, technologically literate, urban professionals, artisans, artists and entrepreneurs. The partnership consists of Ciminelli Development of Amherst, O&Y Enterprise of Toronto, the Jerde Partnership of Venice, Calif., Urban Engineers of Philadelphia, and Phillips Lytle LLP of Buffalo.

WestEnd's $872 million project would be developed as seven integrated sections:

- Arts Terminal Complex - remaking the existing Port Terminal Building into a multifaceted arts studio/business/performance/retail venue.

- Digital Arts and Production Manufacturing District - a varied commercial complex for use for digital post-production, film and television sound stages, light manufacturing and small-scale manufacturing

- Warehouse District - offering mixed use, loft-type space for living and working

- Canal District - the "Main Street" of WestEnd with a blend of residential, retail, office and service components

- Amphitheater/Theater Complex - a 6,000-seat outdoor venue, a 3,000-seat indoor performance space, with movie theaters and nightclubs

- A five-story boutique hotel

- Civic Arts/Exposition Center - a small-scale business expo center for trade shows, exhibits and festivals, with room for other civic space, such as a children's museum or other activity center

WestEnd also would be anchored to the waterfront through a new harborfront, esplanade and marina complex, and canal system. The proposal also relies on a previously approved public greenway that will run through the property to add adjacent sculpture parks, community gardens and biking and running trails.


Green space

The Norstar Development Team proposal is the most "natural" of the trio, with a strong component of parkland, green space and relatively undeveloped waterfront. The team includes Norstar Development USA, Foit-Albert Associates, Watts Engineering, Bevlar and Associates and Jaeckle Fleischmann and Mugel, all of Buffalo, and Mathews Nielson of New York.

Highlights of Norstar's proposal include:

- A nature park with interpretive center and gallery

- An ecological-themed business and industrial park

- 680 residential units positioned along a marina and canal system

- A retail/entertainment center tied to a marina at the current Bell Slip site

Norstar's proposal is the only one to incorporate the existing Festival Grounds at the Pier. A price tag for the Norstar plan was not immediately available.

The NFTA, along with representatives from Buffalo, Erie County, Empire State Development Corp. and Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, will now pore over the proposals and rank them using a 12-item checklist. The plans will be judged on everything from public access to proposed uses and funding strategies.

The review team is expected to identify a preferred developer by mid-January, after which a citizen panel will be selected to provide public input on the plan.

Area residents are encouraged to review the proposals and provide feedback. Starting Monday, a condensed version of each of the three proposals will be available for viewing at www.nfta.com. Printed copies will be available at the downtown branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, and at the Earl W. Brydges Public Library in Niagara Falls.

A video of today's presentations will be aired on local public access channels.

Comments can be e-mailed to outerharbor@nfta.com or mailed to the NFTA, c/o Property Division, 181 Ellicott St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14203. The deadline is Dec. 31.

Erie County Charter

In case anyone wanted to find it, here is a link to select Erie County Laws, including the County Charter.

Brave County Legislators DeBenedetti and Marinelli stood up for the people of Erie County by refusing to vote for a budget that increased the sales tax yet failed to eliminate wasteful pork and patronage.

Kudos.

Lynn Marinelli

Al DeBenedetti

Demler vs. Giambra

Click the link to see Mary Alice Demler give Giambra some tough questions.

It's about the 1st time I've seen a local newsperson really hammer this guy.

Giambra has a Hissy Fit

Erie County Executive Joel Giambra has announced he will not seek another term.

His current term runs through 2007.

It can't come soon enough.

Giambra made the announcement at a news conference Thursday afternoon, during which he blasted several county legislators in the wake of last night's budget deal.

Among others, Giambra publicly criticized democratic legislator Al DeBenedetti, who serves as the legislature's budget committe chair. 'Al has a personal vendetta against me,' Giambra said. 'He's a very bitter man.'

When asked about five republican legislators who refused to vote to increase the county sales tax Wednesday night, Giambra called them 'cowards.' "

Fiscally conservative? Cowards?

To Joel Giambra, it's tomato, tomahto.

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Welcome

Welcome to the WNY Coalition for Progress: a new organization of people from throughout Western New York with an emphasis toward improving the lives of Western New Yorkers through local and national activism.