City, county redistricting may impact West Side

By Craig Learn and Taylor Steinberg
Bengal News Reporters
 With the 2010 census out, the West Side is in jeopardy of being split-up and not being properly represented. If the district lines for Erie County are changed, the city of Buffalo’s West Side could be divided into three separate districts.

County legislative district boundaries today

 The legislature will not draw its own lines. The County Charter requires a 15-member advisory committee to aid in the process. However, the legislature does not have to follow the committee’s advice and can vote against any proposal. Republican County Executive Chris Collins can also veto any vote passed by the legislature.
 The West Side is represented on the Erie County Legislature by Democrat Maria Whyte. Jeremy Toth, Whyte’s designee to the advisory committee and West Side resident, said Whyte represents about 63,000 people. According to Toth, after the downsizing she will represent approximately 20,000 more people. This will happen with no raise in salary or increase in staff.
 “It’s not easy to see how this will impact the West Side directly since each district will be similarly expanded,” Toth said. “However, I think it’s safe to assume that wealthy suburban districts have less need of their county legislator than do poor urban districts; particularly since so much of what the county does is administered state and federal programs for the poor. So it is quite likely that West Side constituencies will feel this negatively while different groups say Clarence residents won’t even notice.”

Current city district lines

 Toth said it does not stop there for West Side residents.

 “The other issue West Siders need to pay attention to is the new lines of the districts,” he said.
 Toth said republicans control the redistricting process and may cut the West Side up into many different districts. West Side voters would then be divided so that they could not have an impact on any district. This is the greatest threat to the West Side right now.
 For the city of Buffalo, the impact to West Side residents might be small according to Kirk Laubenstein, Legislative Assistant to Niagara District Common Council Member David Rivera, who represents most of the West Side.

 Kirk Laubenstein addresses redistricting and the city:


 Another concern for West Side residents is the election in November. If voters elect Whyte she may not represent them after the lines are officially drawn. Toth said he encourages voters to pay attention to the redistricting process.

Edited by Erica Lindo and Amanda Steffan

Buffalo impound lot in need of makeover

By Heidi Friend and Kristine Starkey
Bengal News Reporters
 At 166 Dart St., the City Impound lot is unassuming. In fact, if you don’t live in the neighborhood and have never had your car towed, you would never know it was even there.

City of Buffalo Auto Impound lot located at 166 Dart St.

 Travelling west on Letchworth Street from Buffalo State College, the lot immediately comes into view. Its pale, cold exterior is generically unidentifiable beyond the small sign near its entrance.  Driving along the Scajaquada Expressway it becomes clearer what the lot itself is, and for many in the community, that is precisely the problem.
 In March, Buffalo Parking Commissioner Kevin Helfer announced plans to change the appearance of the lot because there have been complaints from drivers that from the expressway it looks like a junkyard.
    “We want to rearrange the space so that the most damaged cars are moved to the interior lots, where they are less visible to the surrounding areas,” he said.
    Helfer also says there are plans to use steel vertical panels in the interior of the parking centers to block the view.
He said that the cost of this project would be minimal.
    These changes may not even matter in the long run however, according to Councilman Joseph Golombek Jr., whose district includes the impound lot.
    “For quite some time they’ve been talking about getting rid of the impound lot and moving it to [another] site,” Golombek said.
    This move, he believes, will be good for the neighborhood. Right now, it looks “terrible” and is not very secure. Because of its size and lack of adequate security measures, it is often broken into and vandalized.

 North District Councilmember Joseph Golombek Jr. talks about Buffalo State College purchasing land where the Buffalo City Auto Impound lot is located:


    A major reason for moving the lot, Golombek said, is Buffalo State College.  He said Buffalo State is very interested in the current property, which they have suggested they could use to build a stadium.  However, with the state’s budget crisis, he believes it will be at least two or three years before the college can seriously consider this move.
    “It all boils down to money,” Golombek said. “The school can’t be spending that kind of money and raising tuition at the same time.”
    This is exactly the sentiment that the college itself is expressing.  Stan Medinac, associate vice president of facilities planning for the school, confirmed that at this point in time the school has no plans to acquire or renovate the Dart Street property.
    The city is open to cooperating with whatever plans the college has and will entertain offers at any time, said Helfer.
 In the early 1900s, the site was home to the Buffalo Structural Steel Company.  According to “A History of Buffalo: Delineating the Evolution of the City” by J. N. Larned, the plant had a capacity to produce 8,000 tons of structural steel per year and supplied for most of the large commercial properties in the city at that time.
    After the property was foreclosed on in more recent history, the city took it over and turned it into the impound lot that stands now. 
Plans are still up in the air, however Helfer says, “The city is remaining hopeful.”

Edited by Jessica Chetney and Allyson Trolley

Rivera takes lead on hydro-fracking legislation

By Paul Kasprzak and Chris Koss
Bengal News Reporters
 Imagine turning on your water faucet and then holding a lit match under the running water; naturally the small flame would be extinguished. However, in areas where natural gas is abundant underground, and gas companies are using hydro-fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to mine it, people could have a very different reaction to this experiment: their water could start on fire, if a YouTube video is to be believed.
 Fortunately, the West Side doesn’t have to be concerned with this extreme scenario, which affects people with well water. However, the danger of pollution in the lakes and rivers surrounding the area is very real.
 According to FrackAction.com, hydro-fracturing  is a process where water, sand and chemicals are injected into the earth at high pressure. The aim of hydro-fracturing is to fracture rock formations deep underground in the hopes of liberating natural gas that would be otherwise inaccessible, and to bring it to the surface.
 “The Environmental Protection Agency is largely powerless to do anything about pollution caused by fracking. A provision of the 2005 energy bill, inserted at the behest of then Vice President Dick Cheney, stripped the EPA of authority to regulate the process,” according to FrackAction.com.
  The energy bill passed in 2005 does not require gas companies reveal what chemicals they use in the process of hyrdo-fracturing, according to FrackAction.com.
Frack Action Buffalo, led by Rita Yelda, Niagara District Buffalo Common Councilmember David Rivera and North District Councilmember Joseph Golombek worked this past fall to pass Buffalo’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance. This bans hydro-fracturing in the city of Buffalo, as well as the use of wastewater from the process.
 The ordinance passed by Buffalo does not allow the the Buffalo water authority to except any fracking water in the future. According to the Erie County Water Authority it is almost impossible to know what to test for when treating wastewater from fracking.
 Kirk Laubenstein,  legislative assistant to Rivera asked, “Once you screw up your water, how do you unscrew it up?”
 Laubenstein said that the council passed the ordinance knowing that gas companies weren’t particularly interested in the West Side, but because it was the right thing to do. Laubenstein said by passing the ordinance in Buffalo it gave smaller towns and communities more leverage to also ban it. The traditional form of vertical fracking has long been used in New York and now horizontal fracking, which is more controversial because of the amount of water, sand and chemicals needed, is being developed and implemented, according to FrackAction.com.
 “Vertical fracking has already been happening in the Collins area, just 40 minutes outside of Buffalo. There is also an investigation into the acceptance of fracking waste in the city, where it is ending up in local waterways,” Yelda said. “When public health and the environment are on the line, that outweighs any of the supposed economic benefits.”
 Laubenstein said he felt the same way, comparing fracking to the tobacco industry in the way that it may create jobs for people while at the same time it creates a huge health risk for the public.
 “Along with protecting its residents by passing this law, Buffalo is also sending a message to Albany that New York does not want hydro-fracking,” Yelda said. “We will stand up for our communities if New York State will not.”
 Yelda is referring to the moratorium that is currently banning horizontal hydro-fracturing in New York State. That moratorium is set to expire this summer, and if no laws are created banning the practice, statewide gas companies will be free to continue to drill vertically as well as start drilling horizontally. This will allow gas companies to challenge Buffalo’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance, and possibly over turn it, which would allow them to drill for natural gas under the city as well as send wastewater to water treatment plants in the area.
 Since gas companies by federal law are not required to list the chemicals that could be in the water, it becomes a guessing game for the water treatment facilities.
 “National Resources Defense Council said they would work with us to fight the case if we need to,” said Laubenstein.
 Frack Action Buffalo is going to continue to back legislation to prohibit hydro-fracking on local and statewide levels. The organization does community outreach and education, and every second and fourth Sunday at noon they  hold open meetings at Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Buffalo.

            Edited by Paul Giazzon and Jennifer Waters