The bill includes a generous payoff of billions to the nuclear power industry as an incentive to build more nuclear power plants in the United States. Both the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency have testified that nuclear power plants represent major targets for terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, the Bush Administration is determined to give these pampered special interests a 4 billion dollar boost. Nuclear power plants are unprotected, high-risk sites and the United States does not have a safe place to store all the nuclear material currently housed at these facilities. This legislative provision is a direct violation of Federal Court orders to establish such a secure disposal site. Building more nuclear power plants in the United States will further compromise the security and safety of the American people.

“The energy bill is an abomination and a betrayal of the American people by the administration and Congressional leaders”, said Brian Smith, Program Coordinator for Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “The energy industry gives money to congressional campaigns and Congress gives money to the energy industry. The administration continues to look out for its big energy friends while failing to provide money for schools, for elderly health care, or for the nations’ aging drinking water and sewage infrastructure. This is just plain wrong,” said Smith.

Along with the major subsidies to the fossil fuel energy producers, manufacturers of MTBE, a gasoline additive contaminating water supplies nationwide, will be exempt from liability lawsuits for tainting water supplies. With most of the nation’s MTBE supply produced in states from which the

powerful House members who crafted the dangerous bill hail, the manufacturers of the additive will enjoy a nearly unprecedented ban which puts public health and the nation’s drinking water supply at risk.

Other dangerous and detrimental provisions included in the Energy Bill include:

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) has inserted language that would allow more pollution for longer than the current Clean Air Act authorizes.

Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) are rumored to have inserted language to extend by four years the date by which the Environmental Protection Agency must issue a final rule to limit electric utility emissions of mercury.

Other added language shifts the cost of cleaning up 430,000 confirmed leaks from fuel storage facilities to taxpayers, even if the responsible party is known.

Extends the Price-Anderson Act, which limits the liability of the nuclear industry for responsibility in the case of a meltdown or other disaster.

Exempts the oil and gas industry from provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act during extraction and construction activities, thereby putting water supplies and waterways at risk for harmful contamination.

“This bill is really an effort to weaken vital environmental protections such as the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act on behalf of big energy producers. Much of the language in this bill goes against the basic values this nation has stood for over the last 200 years. We are asking New York State’s and Connecticut’s Congressional delegations to stand up against this betrayal of the citizens of our nation. CCE is calling upon Senators Schumer, Clinton, Lieberman and Dodd to lead the effort to filibuster this legislation when it is presented to the full Senate,” stated Smith.

Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) is an 80,000 member, not-for-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization working for the protection of public health and the natural environment.

Contact: Brian Smith, CCE Program Coordinator 716-831-3206 | Add as favourites (23) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 736

Whatever leadership The News was referring to in that editorial, and in their prior endorsement of Giambra, the facts belie the hype. Despite McCarthy’s assertion of a mandate, and Sandra Tan’s repetition of the term in a November 10 article, the citizens of Erie County did not anoint Joel Giambra last Tuesday. They just didn’t care.

Across the county, voters demonstrated their disdain for local politics. Turnout was abysmal, 40 percent in the county executive race and much lower in almost every other contest across the board. Amherst saw turnout percentages in the low-to mid-thirties, Cheektowaga was similar, and the City of Buffalo featured only two races with a voter turnout higher than 32 percent, according to Erie County Board of Election figures.

This trend, both of people not registering to vote and those who are registered staying home on election day, is a national problem but it’s one that can and should be addressed at the local level, according to University at Buffalo political science instructor John Maggiore. Maggiore said that there is a very real problem with voter participation. He pointed out that, in this election, as in most, the areas with the lowest voter turnout tend to be those areas where the voters have more at stake.

“I was a little bit more surprised by the low turnout on the east side,” said Maggiore. “I think that’s an area where the county executive’s race could have been affected.” Maggiore also said that one thing that this past election demonstrated was that direct mail can still be effective in getting the vote out. The North district and city comptroller’s race depended heavily on direct mail, according to Maggiore. “Direct mail is an under appreciated medium. They must have gone through almost 18 rain forests in campaign literature.”

But obviously some people did turn out this year, and The Buffalo News has gone to great lengths to explain that voters were looking for change, for smaller and more efficient government, the very concept that our beloved county executive has been pushing for the past several years. According to Giambra, local area governments are bloated. Our taxes are too high, and government should be cutting jobs -- all at a time when economic growth in Western New York is stagnant, and the unemployment rate is higher than the national average. Many people agree with the Giambra agenda, but what his supporters, especially the gatekeepers at The News, either don’t care about or don’t understand is that Erie County government is growing. And it’s getting more expensive.

Giambra’s claim that he reduced county spending is suspect, considering the reliance on heavy borrowing, reserve funds, and tobacco money. While we at Alt wait for our Freedom of Information Act requests to be fulfilled, we can only offer assumptions, much as Giambra does in his proposed budget for 2004. But our assumptions at least are backed up by an analysis of Comptroller Nancy Naples’ review of Giambra’s budget and by input from several inside sources.

Our first assumption is that, if the county executive’s budget is adopted, there will be less than $10 million left of the original $211.7 million in securitized tobacco proceeds. This money was supposed to last nine or ten years and it appears all but gone as the proposed budget uses $35,725,550 for capital projects and debt service, according to Naples’ budget review. Considering that local Democrats claim that there is only $44 million to $46 million left in the tobacco fund and that Giambra failed to produce documentation proving otherwise, one must assume there may be, at most, $10 million left after fiscal year 2004.

The second assumption is that the proposed 2004 budget will be at least $500,000 higher than Giambra claims as there are actually 318 more filled positions in the budget than currently exist in Erie County government. The budget also depends on the assumption that more than 1,500 employees will retire from county government positions. It doesn’t include appropriations for fringe benefits, which, according to Naples’ report, are 30 percent of payroll for a whopping total of $431,000 per month if workers do not retire at the rate that Giambra assumes.

And we don’t even want to get into the capital budget because the real issue is whether last week’s electoral triumphs by a few key Giambrites will make it all the more difficult to challenge the county executive’s forceful regionalism agenda. The general consensus is that regionalism will continue to be Giambra’s main focus but that the new slim Democratic majority in the Erie County legislature will be able to temper his aggressiveness because legislators will have access to information and budget details that were withheld over the last few years. The biggest win for Giambra obviously was Chuck Swanick taking the tenth legislative district with only the Independence and Conservative party lines against endorsed Republican Kevin Hardwick and Democrat Patricia Ryan-Dudek. Hardwick was surprised by the outcome of the race, especially since he won the Republican primary over Swanick. He attributes Swanick’s win to money, claiming that Swanick outspent him by a four-to-one margin. “I probably spent less in the general election than Chuck did in the primary,” said Hardwick. “He spent more than $200,000 in the general election and almost $50,000 in the primary.”

Hardwick said that he was surprised that Ward did as well as he did because the disparity in money that the two county executive candidates spent was so great. The issue that the county and city face now is the fiscal health of the county as a whole, according to Hardwick. He asked whether current budget practices, heavy borrowing, spending reserves, and the use of one-shot revenues are prudent, and he predicted that, if these issues aren’t addressed, the county will soon be in the same position as the city.

“The hope is that, as a region, you grow out of your fiscal problems,” said Hardwick. “Unfortunately, that’s not been the case in recent years in Erie County. You’ve got to have a discussion. Are we going to cut services? Are we going to raise taxes? Or do you continue to be irresponsible and mortgage the future?”

Dan Ward echoed this sentiment. According to Ward, the budget process under Giambra is fiscally unsound and will lead to higher taxes, fewer services, and worse. “I see more of the same in the next four years,” said Ward. “These are the same self-interested people. That whole thing [2004 budget proposal] is a house of cards. By next year, we’re going to be looking at a control board for the county.”

Ward said that Giambra’s position is weaker now that the Democrats have control of the Erie County Legislature. He also said that there are rumors floating about that Legislator Barry Weinstein (R-15) will caucus with the Democrats, giving them a two-vote margin and securing their position in case chatter about newcomer Tim Wroblewski (D-9) siding with the Republicans turns out to be true.

What this all means for the city remains to be seen, but Delaware District Common Councilmember Marc Coppola agrees with the others that there will be more of the same. He said that politicians often become consumed with issues that the public doesn’t appear to care about and that, in the end, Giambra’s agenda may not matter.

“There are so many little components to regionalism,” said Coppola. “In some respects, it may not affect city or county residents at all. There are some things that we politicians go through great pains about and, in fact, there is a small segment of the population who pays attention.” | Add as favourites (20) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 718

The City of Buffalo has faced its own plight, not just with AIDS or drugs, but with the simple suburban migration of doctors. Facilities and specialists can come few and far between on the east and west sides of Buffalo. Many low-income families and residents do not even own transportation worthy of hiking them out to the ‘burbs for proper medical care.

Several local minds have created something of an answer to these problems. Two and possibly more of the area's local free or reduced-cost clinics in the area bring their patients quality care. The Community Health Center of Buffalo in the shadow of ECMC and Lighthouse free Medical Center at Genesee and Doat provide caring environments for city residents.

The CHCB began with an application to the federal government to start a federally qualified community health center as collaboration with the State University of New York at Buffalo’s Department of Family medicine, said Sandra DiPasquale, chief executive officer. It opened in June 1999, primarily providing preventive medical and dental care to the under-insured and uninsured of the east side, DiPasquale said. The relatively ,new facility covers 20,000 square feet and features 21 exam rooms, three procedure rooms, two nurse stations and an administrative suite. Services include internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, dentistry, psychosocial services, laboratory services, HIV testing, and referrals for specialty care. The facility also hosts a pharmacy, providing patients with prescriptions at greatly reduced prices, DiPasquale said.

SUNYAB still exists as the CHCB’s partner, employing some of its physicians, hosting 15 residents and sharing the responsibility of funding through a grant from the Bureau of Primary Health Care, DiPasquale said.

Most workers at CHCB receive pay. Currently 55 employees, mostly community residents, work at the center. The CHCB also has a board of directors, composed of nine members, the majority being CHCB patients, DiPasquale said.

The facility operates at a bustling pace, seeing an average of 9,000 patients. It has 28,000 encounters, and it continues to grow.

“Since its inception, the center has consistently increased the number of patients served,” DiPasquale said. “Currently, visits are up 14 percent from this time last year.”

DiPasquale said that the CHCB continues to develop and currently is working to “evaluate expansion strategies to enhance the provision of primary care services in the community.”

So what exactly do patients think of the CHCB? It sounds as they have all ground covered and DiPasquale promises, “state of the art primary care for all ages provided by a culturally sensitive workforce.”

Most are pleased with the available services.

Aaron Davis III, an older man and East Side resident, was introduced to the facility from his primary care physician when the Geneva B. Scruggs center closed. He comes here mostly for dental visits and does have insurance.

“It’s easy to get here and there are good people working here,” he said. “A lot of people I know come here too.”

Markita Malone, 29, and an east side resident, mother of two, and Medicare recipient, has come to CHCB since it opened. She finds the location very convenient and said that she can get appointments quickly.

“It’s very nice,” she said. “I have no problem with them. They are very professional, and we’ve been very pleased.”

Most patients are insured or on Medicaid, with a majority of city residents, although patients lacking insurance are welcome also.

The Lighthouse Free Medical Center came out of ideas of a faith-based initiative to help the community and some good old serendipity. The Resurrection Lutheran Church saw a need to bring some medical services to the community and students of Dr. Chester Fox, associate professor at the University at Buffalo and supervisor of the clinic, desired a way to help others in their training. “About five years ago, there was no medical care anymore in the neighborhood,” said Charles G. Biegner, Jr., pastor emeritus of the church. “Doctors had died, retired or moved away. We looked around and said (we need somewhere to go). The government called a medically underserved area where you can drive 1.2 miles in any direction before hitting any clinic.”

At first, Biegner got in touch with a Lutheran pastor, who had gone back to medical school He put him in touch with Fox and Dr. Myron Glick of the Jericho Road Family Practice. The church bought the old Crucial Building owned by the city in September 2001, Biegner said. “It was a difficult job working with the city to get the building because they had put in a quarter of a million in improvements into it,” Biegner said. “So we had it appraised and, because of the neighborhood, it was only worth $35,000.”

Biegner persuaded the city to sell the building for $25,000, saying that every dollar that he could save on the building could be put into other housing projects. The congregation helped raise the money and the national church body provided $10,000, Biegner said.

The clinic opened in October of 2001 with several students volunteering one evening a week to give physicals, self-limited medical care, blood pressure, and diabetes screenings. The clinic served walk-in under-insured or uninsured patients and did not have syringes, a phone, or cash on site. By February 2002, the building started shaping up. Collins Correctional Facility prisoners did labor to fix the building up, and the church paid for renovations, Biegner said. Today, the clinic averages between 12 and 15 patients a week, although seasonal differences bring fluctuations. “During the summer, we do many sports physicals, such as for the Lombardi Football League,” said Fox. “Last January was our highest patient day with 73.”

The clinic has moved faster than Biegner had ever expected and funding, although there is never enough, has started coming in. The facility received a $25,000 grant from another Lutheran church, the Missouri Synod, which will be used to get prescriptions for patients in cooperation with a Bailey pharmacy, Fox said. Presently, the clinic works with drug company samples. Because of the money, the clinic is also able to hold a free flu and pneumonia shot day on Nov. 15.

Biegner said that he enjoys the success that the clinic has had but that he looks to expand and continue raising funds for the facility.

“We are only part way there,” he said. “We are trying to raise $20,000 to $25,000 more to put up walls for one big room and split it into smaller rooms. We also want to install air conditioning and heating by the end of the year.” Biegner, Fox, and the students also want to expand the hours and treatment at the Lighthouse.

“We are ready to move from one night a week,” Biegner said. The church and clinic will work in collaboration with Glick and the Jericho Road center. They hope to eventually create a full-time medical center.

“It’s part of a larger dream with other churches in other parts of the city,” Biegner said. “The faith based initiative will bring together Christians of different backgrounds.” In the meantime, all sorts of students from various backgrounds are learning how to contribute to society and enjoy it.

“We find a whole group of students being sensitized to the needs of poor. How do you measure the importance of something like that?” Biegner said. “This is not just a Lutheran project, but something with people from all backgrounds helping us. A student came to me and said I’m Moslem and hope you don’t mind me helping on this, but it’s all God’s work.”

CHCB hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, F, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Lighthouse Clinic hours: as of now, Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. | Add as favourites (20) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 677

All three hosts have been active locally in the electronic dance music scene. Soma is a veteran Buffalo club and rave dj. Oracle has played locally at venues like 658 Bar, Osaka's Blu Lounge, The Elmwood Lounge, and The Ice Palace; often with keyboardist Chris Battaglia under the guise of Dharma Lab. Spectre holds a weekly residency Saturday nights with Deepsoulplug at Iberia Lounge, as well as a late night mix show on commercial radio. In the ever changing landscape of electronic dance music The Space-Time Trip has endured in its exploration for new dance floor sounds.

REVIEWS

Artist: Galaxian Release: Galaxian EP Format: 12" Label: Tru Thoughts Listen & Purchase:www.tunes.co.uk

I remember when I was little little kid receiving a jig saw puzzle. 500 or a 1000 pieces, I'm not sure, but what I did know is that I had absolutely no clue how all those little things, aka pieces, were going to be put together to make a cool picture. Producing under the Galaxian moniker, Phil Williams makes music much the same way. Mixing pieces of jazz, hip hop, funk, folk and dub, one would think Galaxian's music is as much like the daunting deconstructed puzzle: jumbled. Yet, Williams' 5 track virgin release, the Galaxian EP is a super smooth downtempo monster. Dubby basslines and hip hop beats create the Galaxian's foundation upon which spacier elements of jazz, funk, folk and soul are ingeniously incorporated. Think Massive Attack meets dj Shadow meets Lee Perry and you got the key to the puzzle. Another fine release from the connoisseurs of beats at Tru Thoughts.

Artist: Zuk Release: Sky Bar Sessions Format: CD Label: Unreleased Learn More:www.deepsoulplug.net

Local dj / musician Zuk (Ruben Zukowski) of Deepsoulplug comes up with a stellar live demo. Although not officially released 'Sky Bar Sessions' has circulated quietly and insidiously around Buffalo parts. For those uninitiated, Sky Bar is a n open-air roof-top bar above D'Arcy Mcgee's which became a happening Sunday night venue for various local djs this summer. At this location on a warm summer evening Zuk embarked to record Sky Bar Sessions with the assistance of Jazzopetry's Cliff Jackson. Zuk's demo uniquely incorporates the feel of the evening as microphones were set up to catch the sounds from crowd during his set. The product makes for unique live sound not heard since releases like Gil Evan's jazz masterpiece Waltz For Debbie where artist and audience are recorded collectively in a loungy environment. Zuk's demo represents his continued growth into spiritual beats. Starting chilled his set progresses in bossa flavored latin house and continues into deep afro-house in a tight mix. A demo well worth hunting down.

Most underrated Hip-Hop ever : Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol.1 - Brand New Heavies (Rhino)

Originally released in 1992 Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol.1 finds the Brand New Heavies pioneering a hard, tight and funky live hip-hop sound that a select group of rappers performed over. At the time very rappers were experimenting with live beats within the hip-hop domain. Guest rappers include Black Sheep, Pharcyde, Kool G. Rap & Gang Starr to name a few. Listen & Purchase at: www.amazon.com | Add as favourites (25) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 1469