Buffalopundit

On Thursday and Friday February 16th and 17th, Cheektowaga Councilman Brian Nowak interacted with County Executive candidate Nate McMurray.

The difference here is that Brian is an elected official and very well-informed. He knows what he’s talking about.

Nate isn’t and doesn’t.

Yet that doesn’t prevent Nate from being condescending to Brian in an absurd way. (click the image to enlarge)

Chances are slim that McMurray makes it past petitions to merit even a response from Poloncarz on a “debate”, but look at how he interacts with Brian, who points out that ego should take a back seat to achievement and defending past achievements. Nate has a lot of the former, few of the latter. But he is to be lauded for rendering himself unemployable except for a shaky entry into being a litigation attorney.

He immediately lunges at Nowak, making him out to be a Poloncarz shill by quizzing him on three bullet points on which he has fixated. Nowak responds, deftly. (Again, click to expand)

So, in response to Nowak, McMurray lashes out with feigned incredulity and then proceeds to insult Nowak, who responds by reminding McMurray that it is he who is running for CE, and again schooling him on the fact that governing involves myriad competing interests and associated minutiae.

Then Nate pivots to his love of IKEA (born from his Scandinavian travel, despite the fact that IKEA exists on every populated continent on Earth.) It is another McMurray flex – he’s better than you because he made more than you – is better traveled than you.

Nowak then reminds McMurray that the 14% poverty rate in Erie County is not caused by – or fixable by – one man. (Remember the other day I referred to McMurray’s declarations about poverty to be akin to Trumpism’s “he alone can fix it.“)

McMurray then again offers a non-responsive insult by claiming we have the “worst job market in the country” (citation, please), and that Buffalo “is the third poorest city in the country,” which really should be directed to the city’s government.

Then he asks, rhetorically, as if this is Nowak’s responsibility to answer, “what is the legacy of [Poloncarz]”? I personally think the legacy is to restore faith in county government. To deliver excellent results with a renewed focus on what matters to people. To be a responsible and capable steward of the public purse. To navigate through two negotiations with the Bills and a pandemic. To restore Erie County to fiscal responsibility, improve our credit rating, improve our infrastructure, and to ensure that county departments and services are constantly improving.

Anyone who thinks there hasn’t been positive change between 2012 – 2023, as compared with 2000 – 2011 is lying, an idiot, or was simply absent from the area. Anyone with even a passing, hearsay recollection of Mssrs. Giambra and Collins know how much better, more competent, more responsive, and more people-focused our county government is now.

That’s why we don’t necessarily need some quasi-informed cowboy spouting off about undefined “change” because that sounds a lot like 1999 speaking. “Challenging authority” is for loudmouth adolescents, and is not a positive for its own sake. It really underscores the fact that the driving force that informs McMurray’s candidacy is score-settling and grievance. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the nuts and bolts of running a county government.

As Nowak, notes, “Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.” *Chef’s kiss.*

Fact check: property taxes are regressive.

…if two individuals in the same tax jurisdiction live in properties with the same values, they pay the same amount of property tax, regardless of their incomes.

But the way we typically say “inflation in housing prices” is “property values increase” or “appreciate.” In fact, home ownership is the broadest and most applicable driver of household wealth in this country, as not everyone is so blessed as to have a six-figure income in a five-figure income town and stock options or profit-sharing.

Anyhow, Nate here used to be the supervisor of a small town, so he knows how this works – yet again, he’s assuming you don’t and that you’re dumb and gullible. The county, after all, does not set the assessments – the towns do. The county merely sets the rate, which has gone down continuously as property values appreciated.

And those taxes pay for all of the things that County Executives actually oversee, as opposed to international rail and state projects.

The County Executive – the County – doesn’t run the Library system. They help to fund the library, but they don’t get involved in day-to-day operations.

The escalators in question weren’t “broke” – it’s just that they date back to the construction of the Central Library in 1963. When they became too expensive to maintain or replace, once the ADA-compliant elevator project was complete, the Board decided instead to shut down and enclose the old escalators, which cost $80,000 per year to maintain and would cost over a million dollars to renew. The escalators will eventually be removed. There are two stairwells that offer access to the 2nd floor, and the elevator. That is how the library used its finite resources to accomplish two things at once.

As for the disruptions, those were a topic for discussion at yesterday’s meeting and the administration is dealing with that situation, which is far too complex than some tweeter calling the libraries “places of violence and disrepair” in order to politicize something apolitical.

Finally, Nate keeps saying Buffalo has the “worst job market in the country.”

I would love to see a citation to that purported fact. Maybe it’s just “vibes.”

The only change Nate McMurray would bring is a return to fiscal irresponsibility, relentless politicization of apolitical things, settling of scores, endless grievance, and a lot of time wasted on stuff that has nothing to do with running a county.