Ub 2020 (New York, Buffalo, Union: health insurance, employment, neighborhood)

[lentzr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/ny...expansion.html

This NYTimes article is skeptical about such plans...but is it possible? Why not make it happen? Every Census for the past 50 years shows Buffalo is going, down and down and down. The city will never return to its former industrial heydey, so why not actually make it happen?!

[Vex]

Originally Posted by lentzr

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/ny...expansion.html

This NYTimes article is skeptical about such plans...but is it possible? Why not make it happen? Every Census for the past 50 years shows Buffalo is going, down and down and down. The city will never return to its former industrial heydey, so why not actually make it happen?!

UB2020 could be a positive development, but it's delusional to think that it would turn this area around. For the time being it, like bass pro before it (and light rail, the main place mall and buffalo convention center for that matter), serves to distract the populace from the structural problems of the region and instill complacency.

What the region needs is smaller government and to embrace free market economics. Oh, and Tort reform would help too.

State and Local politicians should be tirelessly combing through statutes and eliminating those that unnecessarily add costs to either tax payers or businesses. Laws should not be measured by their intention, but by their actual effect.

Union power must be curbed. Public employees have become a privileged over-class, enjoying better pay, benefits, pensions and more time off than their private sector counterparts that are footing the bill. Oh and they have no accountability.

Further to that point, NYS (and all states IMO) should become a right to work state. If an individual and a business come to mutual agreement over employment terms, what business does government or a union have to interfere with or disallow that agreement?

Welfare programs need to be cut. There's no reason why an able-bodied person should be able to live their entire lives without working.

Medicaid benefits should be reduced to the minimum federal requirements.

All prevailing wage laws should be eliminated. Why should the government be required to overpay for contracted services? A basic laborer who makes $15 an hour in the private sector may make $45 an hour while working on a state contract. Why should the most overtaxed citizens pay more to get less?

New York should withdraw from the RGGI (cap and trade). Having electric rates 50% above the national average is inexcusable, bad for business, and bad for NYS residents. Furthermore, much of the money from the RGGI isn't going to conservation or "green" efforts, but to the General fund. Also, why should a government use my money to mis-allocate capital into "investments" that are not viable?

I could go on an on... In any case, none of my suggestions will come to pass. Too many people are benefiting from the system to change it... Change will come eventually out of necessity, but the Empire state and Upstate in general still have a long way to fall.

[jblake78728]

The real problem that faces WNY is that its just not a business friendly environment. Unions are about the only thing you mentioned that are part of that problem (and they are only the tip of the iceberg). Until that problem is fixed the rest of your solutions will have very little (if any) impact on the region.

Cutting government means absolutely nothing to the tax payer because at the end of the day your taxes are never going down they'll just spend the money somewhere else.

Medicaid has absolutely nothing to do with the problem as its a federal program, same with cap & trade.

If you are paying 50% above the national average for electricity you need to find a new supplier. The national average (per US Energy Information Administration website) is 11.51 cents/ kwh ....... on my most recent bill I paid 10.58 cents/kwh (and that includes all supply/delivery charges). What I think you are doing is looking at a website that takes an average for the price of electricity across all on NY as the rates downstate are much higher & it raises the average across the state to something in the neighborhood of 17-18 cents /kwh (which isn't even close to what we are paying in WNY).

Electricity - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy

[JWRocks]

I've read many articles reguarding this project and never once have I seen or heard the word "better" or "quality." It's only about being bigger. All of this money to turn UB into a large community college. Community leaders still remember the last large scale mistake by UB that cost taxpayers billions.

[Vex]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

The real problem that faces WNY is that its just not a business friendly environment. Unions are about the only thing you mentioned that are part of that problem (and they are only the tip of the iceberg). Until that problem is fixed the rest of your solutions will have very little (if any) impact on the region.

Cutting government means absolutely nothing to the tax payer because at the end of the day your taxes are never going down they'll just spend the money somewhere else.

Medicaid has absolutely nothing to do with the problem as its a federal program, same with cap & trade.

If you are paying 50% above the national average for electricity you need to find a new supplier. The national average (per US Energy Information Administration website) is 11.51 cents/ kwh ....... on my most recent bill I paid 10.58 cents/kwh (and that includes all supply/delivery charges). What I think you are doing is looking at a website that takes an average for the price of electricity across all on NY as the rates downstate are much higher & it raises the average across the state to something in the neighborhood of 17-18 cents /kwh (which isn't even close to what we are paying in WNY).

Electricity - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy

Well the thought behind cutting government is to get it so that they do not spend it somewhere else and instead leave it in the private sector, where it would be spent more intelligently and at a greater velocity.

Medicaid is a shared program between the fed and state. The federal government pays approximately half of New York's $52 billion program. We pay the difference.

The Cap & Trade program I am referring to is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative among 10 Northeastern states. It is needlessly driving up energy prices. Lower energy prices reduce a company's overhead and increase the bottom line - a positive for business.

As far as my combing through legislation, mandates over health insurance are again increasing costs and should be eliminated. Things like requiring policies to cover chiropractor visits.... NYS and NJ I believe have the highest healthcare costs in the nation.

WNY has an unfriendly business environment simply because the government is too big and too intrusive. Instead of serving the people, government at all levels is working against them. But WNY seems to blindly accept this. I have no doubt that this is the "...modern role of government" the Buffalo news refers to in its endorsement of Hochul.

The irony of course is that there's nothing "modern" about an authoritarian, self-serving government. That's been the norm throughout history

[poletop1]

I do not know enough about this plan to comment on whether it is wise or necessary but I do know that a city and the campus within it are not correlated boosters. UB could be the greatest tertiary center in the world and the city would not have her woes quelled.

Buffalo's economy has failed on a fundamental level, no demagogue or fundamentalism will save it. It is not unlike Newark or Detroit in the sense that it is idiomatically a vehicle without an engine.

[CTbrooktrout]

Originally Posted by lentzr

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/ny...expansion.html

This NYTimes article is skeptical about such plans...but is it possible? Why not make it happen? Every Census for the past 50 years shows Buffalo is going, down and down and down. The city will never return to its former industrial heydey, so why not actually make it happen?!

I think you answered your own question. Think of it like a corporation would. Would you spend money on your best performing business segments or your worst? Most that I know of expand their best performers and cut their worst. So when funds are tight, I would not expect a city with a dwindling economy and population to see a huge investment from the state. The city and people need to first show performance. Show that you know how to use the money wisely and grow. If Buffalo can turn it around, the money and investment will come. That is likely why we're hearing for a phased plan. They will see if the people in charge can make the smaller projects successful. But if history repeats itself and phase one is a total flop. It'll end up saving the rest of the state a bunch of money that might have been wasted. If phase 1 succeeds, then move on to phase 2 and enjoy the benefits.