The following article from today's Buffalo News talks about one prospective businessman's frustrations in dealing with the Permits, Licensing, and Inspections Department in the city of Buffalo. Why wouldn't it be difficult to start a business in Buffalo? So many businesses are looking to move into this bustling city. It's a hub of activity.
What this article doesn't talk about are the two types of help potential businesses get from the department. If you're an outsider like the guy in this article, you get no help at all, just rude service followed by one roadblock after another. You get entitled, incompetent bureaucrats in city hall telling you all the things you need to do. Most of these people wouldn't know how to operate a lemonaide stand but they'll give you a million hoops to jump through before you can even get started. Good luck running a business when the city works against your dreams and not with them.
If you're one of the Doctor brothers opening a pizzeria or Dennis Donovan's daughter starting a purse store, the city will bend over backwards for you. They will give you all sorts of low interest loans and grants. You won't have to worry about any red tape. Cut to the front of the line just like you have your entire lives. Ironically, both of these businesses failed miserably. Eventually, blood and sweat, competence, and a good product will supercede any and all political connections. Just ask Tony the Barber or any other successful local businessman.
In typical fashion, East Aurora resident Jim Comerford offers one excuse after another. He says the department is improving from a couple of years ago. Well, I hope so. You're following the notoriously corrupt and inept Ray McGurn. There's only one way to go from there, and that's up. Those are some incredibly small shoes to fill, pal. Buffalo should get rid of Comerford and fellow Muskateer McGurn.
What this article doesn't talk about are the two types of help potential businesses get from the department. If you're an outsider like the guy in this article, you get no help at all, just rude service followed by one roadblock after another. You get entitled, incompetent bureaucrats in city hall telling you all the things you need to do. Most of these people wouldn't know how to operate a lemonaide stand but they'll give you a million hoops to jump through before you can even get started. Good luck running a business when the city works against your dreams and not with them.
If you're one of the Doctor brothers opening a pizzeria or Dennis Donovan's daughter starting a purse store, the city will bend over backwards for you. They will give you all sorts of low interest loans and grants. You won't have to worry about any red tape. Cut to the front of the line just like you have your entire lives. Ironically, both of these businesses failed miserably. Eventually, blood and sweat, competence, and a good product will supercede any and all political connections. Just ask Tony the Barber or any other successful local businessman.
In typical fashion, East Aurora resident Jim Comerford offers one excuse after another. He says the department is improving from a couple of years ago. Well, I hope so. You're following the notoriously corrupt and inept Ray McGurn. There's only one way to go from there, and that's up. Those are some incredibly small shoes to fill, pal. Buffalo should get rid of Comerford and fellow Muskateer McGurn.
Hey local residency violator: stop making excuses and give people a reason to start businesses in the city. The buck stops with you.
Donn Esmonde: City Hall is no friend to business folk : City & Region : The Buffalo News
Donn Esmonde: City Hall is no friend to business folk : City & Region : The Buffalo News
Here's rare footage of one of my friends from the South Buffalo underclass wishing he could someday be as lucky as a Comerford, Higgins, McGurn, Kane, Gould, Scanlon, and whatever other families pretend to care about the region for their own personal gain:
Mike:
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is Doctor's pizzeria bar was always busy. It was the owners bad "sniff"habits that took the place down.....
I always thought they were such fine upstanding young men. Since they're privileged, I guess they can do whatever they want.
ReplyDeletemr blake i hope you hired bodyguards
ReplyDeleteThese people can do anything they want to me. I just hope someday I'll be important enough to cut their lawns and clean their yachts.
ReplyDeleteyou should turn your attention to the curroption at caz ice rink and the way the SBCA treats people over there. kris parasi is a demon
ReplyDeletei'm not over there very often because i don't have kids and i dont skate. she tried to prevent my girls team from using the old gym at school 29 years ago. luckily, bob williams intervened and we were able to use it that winter. she didn't like me politically so she tried to prevent a bunch of 12 year old girls from playing soccer. class act.
ReplyDeletei know you probably wont post this cause u r a coward always hiding behind your pen,but i constantly read your blasts of mcgurn and company, funny if memory serves me correctly i believe mr mcgurn helped you out of some tix behind caz ice rink a few yrs back when u were driving like an idiot or mayb how about some of the cash you received from mr fitz via mr mcgurn,just shows me how two faced you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would be hiding behind a pen if I didn't attach my name to what I write. However, I do. I took a right on red at Caz and Abbott once(so it's not some tickets, it's one ticket). I could have mentioned my cousin's name but I chose not to. McGurn was riding behind me and was nice enough to get me out of it.
ReplyDeleteMcGurn was able to get money for an organization I ran at the time, not me. I was still broke and without health insurance as I tried to continue running this organization for the 800 kids it benefitted at the time.
Here's a story that demonstrates Ray McGurn's character.I remember running committemen against John Scanlon and his sons. They were representing my neighborhood but didn't live there or care about the people that did live there. We were also on separate sides of the aisle politically. Scanlon had McGurn call me up to try and talk me out of it. I said, Ray, I could really care less about politics as I'm going to school for teaching. His exact response was, "we just got Don Van Every elected and we can prevent you from getting hired in the city as a teacher if you run those committeemen." Class act. By the way, we defeated Scanlon and his friends to win 7 out of 9 seats that year. When I told the late Jimmy Griffin that story, his exact words to me were, "you should have punched him in the mouth." I don't operate like that because I don't have to. When McGurn and I had our exchange in the Metro Community News a few years back, anyone that read it knew I made him look like a fool.
All I want is what I feel I deserve. I'd much rather write about non political people but they leave me no choice. He don't respect my work in the community. Why should I respect him?