Random irritants, drones, gripes and thoughts for this Sunday evening.......
......April 1st, 2007
First off - Happy Birfday, V!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now, please understand that.....
.......I'm a HUGE fan of revitalizing Downtown Buffalo (skip the welcome screen on this link).ESPEcIALLY oooooold, historic buildings! They are SUCH an untapped resource that Buffalo has......I mean, it's funny, here in Portlandia (well, anywhere in B.C. or the Pacific NorthWest), you're at a cocktail party or something and someone will say "Yep....yep, I just bought a historic house!! Too cool.....hardwood floors, claw-foot bathtub....wow!!!!"
(Sorry.....I really love the Guaranty Building)!
Now, it's difficult to say whether THEE SPECIFIC WORK INVOLVED in the worker's death at The Webb Building on March 20th, 2007 had a permit to be performed or not, BUT NOT HAVING A CERTAIN REQUIRED CITY OF BUFFALO BUILDINGS DIVISION PERMIT (SPECIFIC to the task your workers are performing) and disobeying a stop-work order (which would have, thus, shut down the worksite) MAY have played an active role in the death of the worker.
.....but, Byron Brown, with all of his new vision, appears to not have escaped TYPICAL BUFFALO Goomba-ism - As reported below in a Buffalo News investigation in an article dated March 23rd, 2007 by James Heaney (Buffalo News text in red here on out):
Peter Klemann was dispatched to shut down the work site Feb. 23, a day after another inspector found crews had replaced half the floor joists, work that exceeded the scope of the asbestos-removal permit.
After conferring with a supervisor, and in the face of Termini's (the developer of this project) refusal to stop work, Klemann called the police to enforce his stop-work order.
Termini persuaded the police to call Casey (Deputy Mayor of The City of Buffalo), according to inspections records.
"Steven Casey told the police to go back to the station house and not enforce my stop-work order," Klemann wrote in a report. "I returned to City Hall. The contractor continued working."
Casey did not return telephone calls seeking his comment. He issued a statement that did not address whether he told police not to enforce the stop order.
"The police officer requested my assistance in dealing with the matter," Casey said in the statement. "I advised her to tell the parties to take a break and to immediately go to Commissioner [Richard] Tobe's office in City Hall."
Klemann, in an interview, said he spoke to police after their conversation with Casey.
"They felt they were ordered to not enforce the stop-order," he said.
Klemann complained of interference the day of the fatal accident at a meeting of about 15 inspections department supervisors.
A source familiar with the conversation said Klemann, responding to a question from Tobe, inspections and permit commissioner, asking if a stop-order on the job had been issued, said words to the effect: "I put a stop-order on that job over a month ago. The mayor's office told me to go away."
Klemann confirmed that version of events.
Records show that Termini applied for a permit later the same day that Klemann attempted to shut down the job, seeking a permit to do the work he already had started. It was approved, but Tobe said Termini never paid for it nor did he pick it up
Oooops, oh yeah, forgot....this Termini guy also contributed over $9000 to City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's election campaign....
NOW, after some initial statements that were conflicting, the cops had a couple days to get their stories in line with City Hall's official line, as stated in a Buffalo News piece on March 29th, written by Brian Meyer and Vanessa Thomas:
Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said written statements filed by the officers rebut claims by a city inspector that Casey told police not to enforce a stop-work order at the Webb Building.
Officer Mary May called Casey on Feb. 23 during a dispute between inspector Peter L. Klemann and developer Rocco R. Termini over the inspector's push to shut down work at the building on Pearl Street. Gipson said May called Casey only after Termini threatened to call the deputy mayor. [ed. note - So?? Fucking LET HIM call the Deputy Mayor!!! Why did the police officer feel compelled to do this? Is this standard procedure??]
Gipson said May's statement indicates that Casey never told police to let the work continue. "She was simply told to allow them to come [to City Hall] and resolve the issue," he said. "It was her perspective that everything was done professionally and aboveboard
Lord Byron put it this way to describe the police officer now being on board with City Hall's official line: "new information that has come to light." [Yes, actually, new information had come to light....TWO-PLUS DAYS after the fact......by a Police Officer who would much rather keep her job at 65 G's a year being a Buffalo cop and 'play ball' than spill the beans and end up working in a $6.00-an-hour call centre in Tonawanda].
HERE'S THEE $64,000 question, though:
IF, IF Deputy Mayor Casey DID NOT state to the police officers to ignore Building Inspector Klemann's stop-work order, then WHY didn't these officers then ENFORCE Klemann's stop-work order....which was thee reason he called the Buffalo Police Department IN THE FIRST PLACE???
Hmmmmm............
In the place I work, in the over-arching body we call The Community Development Department, we have The Triumvirate.
Let's make this quick and cite an example:
John wants to renovate a really old building and make it into a porn shop! Cool!!
ALL reviews go through The Triumvirate! The Triumvirate consists of The Three Divisions of Community Development: Buildings Division (to make sure John's porn shop isn't constructed out of Popsicle sticks), Site Development Division (to make sure that John's porn shop isn't constructed on top of a swamp) and Development Services (me.....to make sure that John's porn shop isn't placed next door to an elementary school [children under twelve should NOT be exposed to such smut....although you can give 'em a little wiggle room if they want to put it next to a Jr. High School] and, also architecturally, that John's porn shop kinda fits in with the surroundings [i.e. - a giant 10 foot tall dildo isn't protruding from the roof....because we clearly have a code section limiting rooftop dildo height to SIX feet])!
Now, John can't just go in and apply for just a Site Development Permit through the Site Development Division to construct, because John's application THEN will automatically get passed from Site Development Division through to Buildings Division (WHAT'S it made outta, and HOW is it being constructed?) and also through to Development Services (WHAT'S it LOOK LIKE and WHERE'S it gonna go in terms of designated Zoning?)
Now, if John ONLY JUST applies for a Design Review through Development Services Division, WE pass the application onto both, Buildings Division and Site Development Division, and if John just ONLY went to Buildings Division to get a construction permit, Buildings passes that application onto us (Development Services Division) and to Site Development Division and..........OK.........all right........
..........you get the idea!
And even IF one Division erroneously and blindly signs off on it, or a high-up official who's buddies with the developer that John hired to do this porn shop project tries to pull some Goomba shit, there IS SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH PUBLIC TRANSPARENCY throughout the entire process..........notices of proposed development mailed, neighbourhood review meetings etc. etc........that the entire project may or may not end up getting approved if that kind of stuff occurred...
Wow......Jesus, different world, I guess.....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WE WIN!!!!!!
My team won the pub quiz in PDX FINALLY for thee very first time ever. Beat out ten other teams. No small achievement in a city as intellectual as Portlandia, indeed......shit, if I could just take my team to Denver.....we'd clean house!! And instead of betting money, we could play for newspapers! If our team won.....Denver would get The bOregonian and we'd get to take home The Denver Post.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You, too, can be "undocumented".....
THIS is the bizarro story of the day! Look at the last of the three news blurbs on this web page! This is just too bizarre....but it fascinated the absolute hell out of me! I seriously think I am gonna go to this parque (beware of this link - it's a really awful Google beta-translation from Spanish....but you'll get the idea). Some things out there, literally, have got to be seen.....not read about.....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No longer in that New York State of mind......
FINALLY did it. After two years, I got my Oregon plates and got rid of my New York State plates! Pretty much the last thing or connection I have with that place (a few friends remain, and I do have all of my family there, but otherwise).
I got a notice in the mail from New York State offering me the oppertunity to renew my registration via Internet for a two-year renewal for.........
.........drum roll........
......$45.00!!
Now this is in tax-happy state number one!!! Wow, I was astounded....jeeeze, I was gonna be a total jerk and take 'em up on their offer and keep my plates for another two years, when I realised just WHAT THE HELL I'd be doing then if I gave money to New York State to renew my registration!
I'd be assisting Eliot Spitzer's Holocaust on The Seneca Nation of Indians!
COST BE DAMMED, I am gonna get my Ora-gaaaaan plates and I'm gonna get 'em now! Not ONE SINGLE SHEKEL is going to Eliot Spitzer!
Oh, and believe me, cost WAS dammed.....rather, it was damming! Emissions test, plate fee, out-of-state title transfer fee, registration fee, etc fee, and so fourth fee, it all came to.............
.........$168.00!!!!!
Jesus, almost suffered cardiac arrest! Man, the cost of just trying to make a point nowadays.......
.....BUT, I DID get the cool license plates kinda like this one below, so......
(By the way, this is Crater Lake plate #00001!!! It also went stolen from a license plate enthusiast convention/show/thingy.....so if you actually see this plate number, let them know!)
Sanctuary across the asphalt ocean.....
They just opened up a franchise across the car park from where I work! Had a grand opening ceremony this weekend (somehow, I got an invite and a chance to win a private vino tasting for 20 because they came in to apply for a sign permit and sent me an invite to the address on my business card!!) and it was fun.
Bought a waaaaay nice Washington State Grenache......NOT thee easiest thing to find (Rosemount Estates put out a Grenache-Sharaz blend that wasn't too bad, but finding just a Grenache isn't easy at all)......
A couple new pics have been added to the pics page......enjoy....
-E-
......April 1st, 2007
First off - Happy Birfday, V!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now, please understand that.....
.......I'm a HUGE fan of revitalizing Downtown Buffalo (skip the welcome screen on this link).ESPEcIALLY oooooold, historic buildings! They are SUCH an untapped resource that Buffalo has......I mean, it's funny, here in Portlandia (well, anywhere in B.C. or the Pacific NorthWest), you're at a cocktail party or something and someone will say "Yep....yep, I just bought a historic house!! Too cool.....hardwood floors, claw-foot bathtub....wow!!!!"
"Cool, when was it built?", I'd ask.....
"Oh, this is an early WWII bungalow!" (Everyone else in attending this conversation will gasp mildly with astonishment and admiration)!
"Oh....wow. World War II-era bungalow.....cool. Yeah, that's about the era when my last apartment in Buffalo was most recently renovated! And ARE there actually other types of tubs out there besides clawfoot?" I'd state......
(vacant stares all round)......
JESUS!!!! Take advantage of the existing housing and building stock you've got, Buffalo!!! Several other cities would kill for it!!!
(Sorry.....I really love the Guaranty Building)!
Now, it's difficult to say whether THEE SPECIFIC WORK INVOLVED in the worker's death at The Webb Building on March 20th, 2007 had a permit to be performed or not, BUT NOT HAVING A CERTAIN REQUIRED CITY OF BUFFALO BUILDINGS DIVISION PERMIT (SPECIFIC to the task your workers are performing) and disobeying a stop-work order (which would have, thus, shut down the worksite) MAY have played an active role in the death of the worker.
.....but, Byron Brown, with all of his new vision, appears to not have escaped TYPICAL BUFFALO Goomba-ism - As reported below in a Buffalo News investigation in an article dated March 23rd, 2007 by James Heaney (Buffalo News text in red here on out):
Peter Klemann was dispatched to shut down the work site Feb. 23, a day after another inspector found crews had replaced half the floor joists, work that exceeded the scope of the asbestos-removal permit.
After conferring with a supervisor, and in the face of Termini's (the developer of this project) refusal to stop work, Klemann called the police to enforce his stop-work order.
Termini persuaded the police to call Casey (Deputy Mayor of The City of Buffalo), according to inspections records.
"Steven Casey told the police to go back to the station house and not enforce my stop-work order," Klemann wrote in a report. "I returned to City Hall. The contractor continued working."
Casey did not return telephone calls seeking his comment. He issued a statement that did not address whether he told police not to enforce the stop order.
"The police officer requested my assistance in dealing with the matter," Casey said in the statement. "I advised her to tell the parties to take a break and to immediately go to Commissioner [Richard] Tobe's office in City Hall."
Klemann, in an interview, said he spoke to police after their conversation with Casey.
"They felt they were ordered to not enforce the stop-order," he said.
Klemann complained of interference the day of the fatal accident at a meeting of about 15 inspections department supervisors.
A source familiar with the conversation said Klemann, responding to a question from Tobe, inspections and permit commissioner, asking if a stop-order on the job had been issued, said words to the effect: "I put a stop-order on that job over a month ago. The mayor's office told me to go away."
Klemann confirmed that version of events.
Records show that Termini applied for a permit later the same day that Klemann attempted to shut down the job, seeking a permit to do the work he already had started. It was approved, but Tobe said Termini never paid for it nor did he pick it up
Oooops, oh yeah, forgot....this Termini guy also contributed over $9000 to City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's election campaign....
NOW, after some initial statements that were conflicting, the cops had a couple days to get their stories in line with City Hall's official line, as stated in a Buffalo News piece on March 29th, written by Brian Meyer and Vanessa Thomas:
Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said written statements filed by the officers rebut claims by a city inspector that Casey told police not to enforce a stop-work order at the Webb Building.
Officer Mary May called Casey on Feb. 23 during a dispute between inspector Peter L. Klemann and developer Rocco R. Termini over the inspector's push to shut down work at the building on Pearl Street. Gipson said May called Casey only after Termini threatened to call the deputy mayor. [ed. note - So?? Fucking LET HIM call the Deputy Mayor!!! Why did the police officer feel compelled to do this? Is this standard procedure??]
Gipson said May's statement indicates that Casey never told police to let the work continue. "She was simply told to allow them to come [to City Hall] and resolve the issue," he said. "It was her perspective that everything was done professionally and aboveboard
Lord Byron put it this way to describe the police officer now being on board with City Hall's official line: "new information that has come to light." [Yes, actually, new information had come to light....TWO-PLUS DAYS after the fact......by a Police Officer who would much rather keep her job at 65 G's a year being a Buffalo cop and 'play ball' than spill the beans and end up working in a $6.00-an-hour call centre in Tonawanda].
HERE'S THEE $64,000 question, though:
IF, IF Deputy Mayor Casey DID NOT state to the police officers to ignore Building Inspector Klemann's stop-work order, then WHY didn't these officers then ENFORCE Klemann's stop-work order....which was thee reason he called the Buffalo Police Department IN THE FIRST PLACE???
Hmmmmm............
In the place I work, in the over-arching body we call The Community Development Department, we have The Triumvirate.
Let's make this quick and cite an example:
John wants to renovate a really old building and make it into a porn shop! Cool!!
ALL reviews go through The Triumvirate! The Triumvirate consists of The Three Divisions of Community Development: Buildings Division (to make sure John's porn shop isn't constructed out of Popsicle sticks), Site Development Division (to make sure that John's porn shop isn't constructed on top of a swamp) and Development Services (me.....to make sure that John's porn shop isn't placed next door to an elementary school [children under twelve should NOT be exposed to such smut....although you can give 'em a little wiggle room if they want to put it next to a Jr. High School] and, also architecturally, that John's porn shop kinda fits in with the surroundings [i.e. - a giant 10 foot tall dildo isn't protruding from the roof....because we clearly have a code section limiting rooftop dildo height to SIX feet])!
Now, John can't just go in and apply for just a Site Development Permit through the Site Development Division to construct, because John's application THEN will automatically get passed from Site Development Division through to Buildings Division (WHAT'S it made outta, and HOW is it being constructed?) and also through to Development Services (WHAT'S it LOOK LIKE and WHERE'S it gonna go in terms of designated Zoning?)
Now, if John ONLY JUST applies for a Design Review through Development Services Division, WE pass the application onto both, Buildings Division and Site Development Division, and if John just ONLY went to Buildings Division to get a construction permit, Buildings passes that application onto us (Development Services Division) and to Site Development Division and..........OK.........all right........
..........you get the idea!
And even IF one Division erroneously and blindly signs off on it, or a high-up official who's buddies with the developer that John hired to do this porn shop project tries to pull some Goomba shit, there IS SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH PUBLIC TRANSPARENCY throughout the entire process..........notices of proposed development mailed, neighbourhood review meetings etc. etc........that the entire project may or may not end up getting approved if that kind of stuff occurred...
Wow......Jesus, different world, I guess.....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WE WIN!!!!!!
My team won the pub quiz in PDX FINALLY for thee very first time ever. Beat out ten other teams. No small achievement in a city as intellectual as Portlandia, indeed......shit, if I could just take my team to Denver.....we'd clean house!! And instead of betting money, we could play for newspapers! If our team won.....Denver would get The bOregonian and we'd get to take home The Denver Post.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You, too, can be "undocumented".....
THIS is the bizarro story of the day! Look at the last of the three news blurbs on this web page! This is just too bizarre....but it fascinated the absolute hell out of me! I seriously think I am gonna go to this parque (beware of this link - it's a really awful Google beta-translation from Spanish....but you'll get the idea). Some things out there, literally, have got to be seen.....not read about.....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No longer in that New York State of mind......
FINALLY did it. After two years, I got my Oregon plates and got rid of my New York State plates! Pretty much the last thing or connection I have with that place (a few friends remain, and I do have all of my family there, but otherwise).
I got a notice in the mail from New York State offering me the oppertunity to renew my registration via Internet for a two-year renewal for.........
.........drum roll........
......$45.00!!
Now this is in tax-happy state number one!!! Wow, I was astounded....jeeeze, I was gonna be a total jerk and take 'em up on their offer and keep my plates for another two years, when I realised just WHAT THE HELL I'd be doing then if I gave money to New York State to renew my registration!
I'd be assisting Eliot Spitzer's Holocaust on The Seneca Nation of Indians!
COST BE DAMMED, I am gonna get my Ora-gaaaaan plates and I'm gonna get 'em now! Not ONE SINGLE SHEKEL is going to Eliot Spitzer!
Oh, and believe me, cost WAS dammed.....rather, it was damming! Emissions test, plate fee, out-of-state title transfer fee, registration fee, etc fee, and so fourth fee, it all came to.............
.........$168.00!!!!!
Jesus, almost suffered cardiac arrest! Man, the cost of just trying to make a point nowadays.......
.....BUT, I DID get the cool license plates kinda like this one below, so......
(By the way, this is Crater Lake plate #00001!!! It also went stolen from a license plate enthusiast convention/show/thingy.....so if you actually see this plate number, let them know!)
Sanctuary across the asphalt ocean.....
They just opened up a franchise across the car park from where I work! Had a grand opening ceremony this weekend (somehow, I got an invite and a chance to win a private vino tasting for 20 because they came in to apply for a sign permit and sent me an invite to the address on my business card!!) and it was fun.
Bought a waaaaay nice Washington State Grenache......NOT thee easiest thing to find (Rosemount Estates put out a Grenache-Sharaz blend that wasn't too bad, but finding just a Grenache isn't easy at all)......
A couple new pics have been added to the pics page......enjoy....
-E-
posted by CN250 at 7:53 PM
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