Archive for March 8th, 2008

EDITORIAL: We Must Save The Value Of Our Homes Now, Before It’s Too Late

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

TOWN WIDE ALERT: Our homes are in danger of being damaged, which will lower the value of your property and be almost impossible to sell.

The Town of Amherst must demand action to solve our serious sewer and drainage problems which thousands of our citizens are suffering from due to the over development of Amherst. 

The citizens of Amherst must not meekly accept, “It can’t be fixed now.”  “It must be done now!” must be the reply from the citizens.

The Town Board of Amherst has let development run rampant while they failed to update our old sewer system and our 30 year old Waste Water Treatment Plant to handle all the new development. 

Citizens have suffered from a litany of problems that include:

  • Drainage and sewer problems
  • Flooded basements
  • Soaked backyards in the middle of summer
  • Damaged to the structure of their home due to water damage

 The list of problems goes on and on.

Our beautiful creeks like Ellicott and Tonawanda, are highly and dangerously polluted from the dumping raw sewer waste.

Our website, the Amhersttimes.com, is compiling a list of people who have emailed us telling us of their drainage and sewer problems. These e-mails come from all corners of Amherst.  If you want to send a message our e-mail address is jjtric@roadrunner.com.

The citizens must stop meekly accepting the BS from the Town Board concerning why things can’t be done quickly.  At the very least they must force the Town Board to honestly explain how our money is being used in other areas that are “more important”. 

Are there such areas that are more important than your health and the value of your property?

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This is the Present Status of DEC Report of the Shooting Club Property

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Environmental Site :

 The site is located at 330 Maple Road, in the Town of Amherst and consists

 of 26 acres of a greater 31.6 acre parcel that has been slated for

 commercial development.

IT WAS THE FORMER BUFFALO SHOOTING CLUB.

Site Description:

The site is located at 330 Maple Road, in the Town of Amherst and consists of 26 acres of a greater 31.6 acre parcel that has been slated for commercial development. A shopping plaza with associated businesses, drives and surface parking lots is planned for the subject property. The Site is not fenced and is generally bounded by Maple Road to the south, residential property to the west, and a golf course to the north and east. Residential properties are on the south side of Maple Road. The Site was the location of the Buffalo Shooting Club, which operated on the property from 1943 to November 2006. Available records indicate that the Site was apparently vacant prior to 1943. The Site presently consists of an outdoor shooting range and a two-story clubhouse. The site has been contaminated as a result of historic site use as a shooting club. Known or suspected contaminants listed are lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These contaminants are impacting the soil and their source is from shooting range activities. BCP Agreement signed September 22, 2006 and the Remedial Investigation (RI) of the property was conducted in early 2007. The RI Report, dated October 2007, was submitted and is under review.

Material Disposed of at Site and Quantity:

Type of Waste Quantity of Waste
LEAD UNKNOWN
BENZ(A)ANTHRACENE UNKNOWN

Assessment of Environmental Problems:

The Buffalo Shooting Club activities resulted in soil contamination from lead shot and gunpowder residue. Lead and SVOC contamination in soil exceed acceptable cleanup values identified in Part 375. Characteristic hazardous waste for lead was detected in the surface soil, sub-surface soil and groundwater at the site. Eleven soil samples (10 surface soil 0-6 in. and 1 subsurface soil 1.0-2.0 ft.) were collected for TCLP lead. Six of the ten surface soil samples failed the TCLP test ranging from 6.36 mg/l to 24.1 mg/l. The lone sub-surface soil sample failed for TCLP lead at 9.77 mg/l. One historical sample from a previous investigation found a TCLP lead failure at 50.2 mg/l compared to the regulatory limit of 5 ug/l for lead. In addition, 251 surface and sub-surface soil samples exceeded the unrestricted Soil Cleanup Objective (SCO) of 63 ppm for lead; 35 samples also exceeded the commercial SCO of 1,000 ppm for lead and were detected as high as 98,000 ppm. One groundwater sample collected during the RI from MW-3 detected lead contamination at 520 ug/l, which exceeds the groundwater standard of 25 ug/l for lead. Portions of the soil on-site are a characteristic hazardous waste and exceed Part 375 Standard Cleanup Objectives for the intended site use, therefore, this site poses a significant threat to public health and the environment.

Assessment of Health Problems:

Significant levels of lead have been documented in surface and subsurface soils at the site from its past use as a gun club. There is minimal impact to groundwater, and the area is served by public water. Access to the site is unrestricted, and adjacent properties include a golf course to the north and east, with residential properties to the west and to the south across Maple Road.

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Seeing an End to the Good Times (Such as They Were)

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Let the good times roll!  If only they would.  It appears that the recession of 2008 is now unavoidable, if history is a reliable guide.

“The dismal jobs report released Friday showed overall employment to be lower than it was three months ago. Every time such a slump has occurred since the early 1970s, a recession has followed — or already been under way.”

“And if the good times have really ended, they were never that good to begin with. Most American households are still not earning as much annually as they did in 1999, once inflation is taken into account.”
[read whole story]

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Deal in an Autism Case Fuels Debate on Vaccine

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

There have been many studies done which have failed to show any link between vaccines and autism. Skeptics say a settlement in the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling shows that they have been right along. 

“The government has conceded that vaccines may have hurt Hannah, and it has agreed to pay her family for her care. Advocates say the settlement — reached last fall in a federal compensation court for people injured by vaccines, but disclosed only in recent days — is a long-overdue government recognition that vaccinations can cause autism.”
[read whole story]

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To Revive Hunting, States Turn to the Classroom

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Just what we need.  More guns in the hands of our children.   

“When David Helms was in seventh grade, he would take his .22-caliber rifle to school, put a box of ammunition in his locker and, like virtually all the other boys, lean his rifle against a wall in the principal’s office so he could start hunting squirrels as soon as classes let out, but that was about 45 years ago.” 

“Hunting is on the decline across the nation as participation has fallen over the last three decades, and states have begun trying to bolster this rural tradition by attracting new and younger people to the sport.”

“In West Virginia, state lawmakers gave final approval on Friday to a bill that allows hunting education classes in all schools where at least 20 students express interest. The goal is to reverse a 20 percent drop in hunting permits purchased over the last decade, which has caused a loss of more than $1.5 million in state revenue over that period.
[read whole story]

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Big Names in Retail Fashion Are Trading Teams

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

If you are looking for a specific designer’s line in the store you used to purchase your clothing at you may be surprised to find things have changed.  It may be unnerving at first but you’ll get used to it.  The good thing is that designer labels are now available at stores where the price point is more in line with the average American budget.

“Isaac Mizrahi, the everyman’s fashion oracle, is about to leave behind his wildly popular cheap-chic clothing collections at Target to be the creative director for Liz Claiborne, the stalwart shopping-mall label.”

“Dana Buchman, a longtime favorite of customers at upscale stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, is decamping this fall to the budget-conscious Kohl’s.”

“And Tommy Hilfiger, a constant in department stores like Dillard’s and Bon-Ton for two decades, now says he will sell his clothes only at Macy’s.”
[read whole story]

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Higgins Named Co-Chair of Congressional Older Cities Task Force

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) has been named Co-Chair of the bi-partisan Congressional “Revitalizing Older Cities Task Force.”  Congressman Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, will serve as Higgins’ counterpart.  

“America’s older, industrial cities that once bustled with manufacturing business and jobs and built this nation are now struggling with the changing economy,” said Congressman Higgins.  “This Task Force will take a proactive look at a wide cross-section of issues to promote federal policies that inject opportunity and optimism into our older cities.” 

The “Revitalizing Older Cities Task Force” dedicated to addressing the plight of this region’s older cities was recently formed by members of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.  The Northeast-Midwest Coalition was established over 30 years ago because federal legislators from these regions recognized that their needs are similar and by working together they can have a greater impact on the issues specific to their unique constituency.  Congressman Higgins was appointed to serve as Co-Chair of the Older Cities Task Force by Chairman Jim Oberstar of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, who also Co-Chairs the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.   

One of the first issues the task force addressed was a discussion of vacant properties and historic structures.  Last year Congressman Higgins introduced H.R. 3498, the Neighborhood Reclamation and Revitalization Act, a bill which would provide funds to older cities to deal with rampant vacant properties 

In the future, the Task Force will take a critical assessment of how and whether current federal initiatives are meeting the challenges faced by older industrial cities and regions like Western New York.  In addition to Congressman Higgins’ bill, members of the task force have already introduced legislation to create tax credits to cleanup and redevelop brownfield sites and expand the current historic rehabilitation tax credit to make it applicable to affordable housing.  Other issues anticipated to be addressed by the task force include: decaying urban infrastructure, the need for urban economic development, the energy/environmental benefits of urban in-fill versus sprawl and the lack of availability of healthy foods in urban cores.   

The task force is currently comprised of the following members:  Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Phil English (R-PA), Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI), Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH), Rep. James McGovern (D-MD), Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. Bill Pascrell     (D-NJ), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Tim Ryan (D- OH), Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA), and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). 

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