West Seneca leaders try to "upsize"

 

I'm starting to think West Seneca is one of the most corrupt town governments in Western New York. In 2009, the voters overwhelmingly voted to downsize the town board. The people have had enough of unnecessary politicians and government. Now, in typically underhanded fashion, the town leaders are trying to schedule a vote to "upsize" itself...

“Sadly, ever since voters demanded downsizing, your behavior has reflected, at best, a disdain for the wishes of town voters,” Gaughan said Monday in a letter to Supervisor Sheila M. Meegan and Councilmen Eugene P. Hart and John M. Rusinski. “You’ve whined, bickered and made endless excuses for purposeful failure.

“Worse,” the letter continued, “you’ve made no effort to adapt to three-member board governance, a system which exists in tens of thousands of towns throughout our nation.”

I have to blame the residents of West Seneca themselves. They elected Meegan, the daughter of one of Western New York's most all-time corrupt political hacks, Chris Walsh. Walsh is the right hand man to Steve Pigeon, THE most corrupt political figure in modern Western New York history. Everyone and their brother knows these two guys are crooked. Did they really think the daughter was going to somehow fall far from the tree? 

A citizen, who probably is dependent on town government (Dan Warren), couldn't even gather the required number of signatures to put the referendum on the ballot. (Probably because most residents want LESS representation.) I really wish I lived in West Seneca, so I could attend a meeting and publicly make fun of the man who thinks the town needs more politicians. Fortunately, there is no doubt in my mind Gaughan's forces will reeducate the residents and explain to them exactly what these government-reliant crooks are trying to pull down there. Meanwhile, the site of the former Seneca Mall continues to sit vacant. I still remember seeing The Karate Kid II there.
Gaughan blasts W. Seneca board on ‘up-sizing vote’ - The Buffalo News

Letters to the editor: downsizing

I agree with this letter writer from West Seneca about the need for Western New York to have significantly less politicians "representing" us...

Too many politicians for falling population
Reading The News coverage of the recent census figures has been frustrating in more ways than one. Not only have local leaders failed to stop Erie County’s population loss, they have failed while someone like Kevin Gaughan has been offering ways to reverse our decline. We’ve all become familiar with Gaughan’s research that shows Western New York has a bloated number of elected officials. His statistics would be eye-opening even if we were a growing area. But in the last decade, Erie County lost more people than any other county in New York State. Yet we still have an overload of politicians. Gaughan’s solution of streamlining local governments and the State Legislature is right. His downsizing successes have saved local taxpayers money, and if he can do the same thing with the Legislature, we’ll all benefit. There are areas all over America that face the same difficulties of climate and geography that we do. But they’re growing while we’re dying. The only difference is that those successful areas don’t bear the cost of multiple governments, and the large number of politicians that come with them. Karen Ryan West Seneca

When you hear these political types talking about the potential to lose "representation" it is laughable. In fact, the only people speaking out for more of these clowns are the clowns themselves, their staff members, and the respective family members. Why would they want to get rid of the golden goose? The rest of us aren't served by them at all.

Do you think people like Tim "Hortons" Kennedy or Tim "Einstein" Whalen significantly affect your life in any way, shape, or form? Believe me, you and I would do just fine without them. They bring less than nothing to the table. If it means getting rid of political hacks like these two, please, do us all a favor and give us less representation.

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Letter to Kevin Gaughan

Does anyone have regionalism advocate Kevin Gaughan's email address? I'm trying to email him this letter regarding the special election for the Erie County Legislator seat vacated by the always fresh Tim "Horton's" Kennedy:

Mr. Gaughan,

I appreciate all of your efforts to downsize Western New York and free us from unnecessary and expensive layers of government. I am writing to you about the Erie County Legislature. We currently pay the part time lawmakers $43,000/yr. We also pay the salaries of their full time staff members as well as the cost of maintaining their satellite offices in the district.

For years, the County was governed by an all volunteer Board of Managers, consisting of the leaders of various towns and villages in Erie County. Their only role was to approve and make amendments to the County Executive's fiscal budget. Coincidentally, this is the same thing we now pay our current members and their staff to do. The only people who benefit from the current group of legislators are their close friends and family. They are a burden on the hardworking taxpayers.

I am looking for information and support on specifically how much money we pay each year (in salaries, pension costs, office rentals,etc.) for this completely unnecessary layer of government. I'm exploring a possible protest candidacy calling attention to this issue and for the future elimination of the entire Legislature. I live in the 2nd Legislative District currently "represented" by Timothy Whalen. A special election for this seat will be held this Fall. In my opinion, if the people knew how unnecessary these seats were, they would support a future referendum calling for the elimination of them. In an age where we're calling for cutbacks to police officers, firefighters, and teachers, we need to start cutting first with politicians.

I've been a coach and youth sports organizer in South Buffalo for 20 years. In this role, I've come to know thousands of hardworking families. 1,500 people a week read this blog. I have a Bachelors degree in Psychology from UB and a Masters degree in Physical Education from Canisius College. (Unfortunately, not being related to the Keanes, Brian Higgins, or any of the other South Buffalo political families has made finding a decent job in this economically depressed area a little tough.) However, I have no problem competing against them, since I know the residents of the 2nd District would be behind this issue. Thank you very much for your time. I am definitely interested in promoting your call for leaner government in Western New York. My email address is Blake14220@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,

Mike Blake
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Change Albany?

Attorney Kevin Gaughan is starting a new campaign to downsize the New York Senate to 50 members. Where can I sign up?

After successful efforts to downsize several local town boards, Gaughan is turning his attention to the State Legislature and, more immediately, the 62-member Senate.

Under his proposal, which still lacks a sponsor, the Senate would be reduced to 50 members.

"Before we start eliminating full-time state workers, we should eliminate part-time state politicians," he told The Buffalo News.

Where is Tim "change Albany" Kennedy to sponsor Gaughan's downsizing proposal? As we predicted, Kennedy's done nothing to even hint at change since he arrived in Albany with his box of Tim Horton's donuts. Obviously, it was just a campaign slogan meant to fool a lot of stupid people. Mission accomplished.

Kennedy has said he will continue to take his usual leadership stance on the issue (waiting until Brian Higgins tells him what to do)...

Gaughan kicking off Assembly and Senate downsizing campaign - Politics - The Buffalo News

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Village People

Voters in Williamsville and Sloan overwhelmingly rejected Kevin Gaughan's attempt to dissolve their villages. Although the issue remains controversial, it was nice to see residents handle the debate in a nonconfrontational, mature manner...

Gaughan received both handshakes and tongue lashings on his stops at both polling places, though he seemed energetic throughout the day.

One Williamsville resident gave him a shove, and a Sloan resident threw an object at him and missed.

The dreaded foreign object. Next stop for Gaughan is Buffalo, where he will attempt to dissolve the village of Kaisertown.

Village voters reject dissolution - The Buffalo News

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Dissolve all the villages

Kevin Gaughan's issue of dissolving the Villages and towns was never really that big with me...until now. The biggest scam on the rest of us are the town traffic courts.

These small towns don't care about public safety. Everyone knows it's about how much of our hard earned money they can generate from us while we attempt to drive through their towns. Take Blasdell for instance. One day, a few months ago, I went to the bank on a day off from work. All of a sudden, I get pulled over by some Barney Fifelike cop. I had no idea why. I wasn't speeding, talking on my cell phone, or texting. My seat belt was on. He said I didn't come to a complete stop at the blinking red light on Lake Avenue. Now, had I completely blew it off, I would understood. There was nobody on the road and, probably out of force of habit, I hit the gas pedal at around 2 MPH (after breaking).

This heinous act ended up costing me $115 after I pleaded down to three parking tickets. What a complete joke! In today's recession, was my infraction worth that much to society? I hope everyone working for the Village of Blasdell gets the H1N1 virus and stays sick for a year.

Since the village get all the money, it amounts to a commuter tax for driving through their shit town. On any nice afternoon, watch around South Park and Lake Avenue as they pull over one unsuspecting motorist after another for minor infractions. With all the money these crooks are bringing in, it's no wonder they fight when taxpayers want them dissolved. It's not just Blasdell. Scenes like this are playing out in towns and villages all over Erie County.

I hope Gaughan is successfull and all of these low life, white trash villages get dissolved. The only one I like is Williamsville. They are very snobby, but they don't pull everyone over and harrass them like Hamburg, Blasdell, Kenmore, Tonawanda, etc.

The picture below is outside of traffic court in Blasdell yesterday. This was around 6:30 PM. People began showing up at 4PM. Inside, there were hundreds of others in the full courtroom or in line (waiting to talk to the prosecuter). You can't tell, but the line went all the way around the building. All of this money is going to the crooks that run this town. I seriously doubt they are giving any of it back to the people living in the trailor parks along Electric Avenue. We're all on to your sorry act, crooks. Dissolve immediately.

From the Village website:
The Erie Railroad was laid through this area in the 1870's. A gentleman from North Collins by the name of Herman Blasdell was the first Station Master for the depot built as the crossover of the Erie and Pennsylvania Railroads. He received permission from the United States Government to establish a Post Office in this depot. Having no name for this area and very few residents, he proceeded to put his own name on the depot. Hence, the name Blasdell.
Today, the Village is approximately one square mile.