La Cosa di Loro
WNY is not run so much by politicians. It is, instead, run by the wealthy, connected developers who fund their elections. All the political refusal and reluctance to address unchecked sprawl without population growth and regional planning stems from that. And racism, often disguised as home-rule parochialism.
Until there is proper campaign finance reform and an abolition of Wilson-Pakula and electoral fusion, we’ll keep spinning our wheels and going nowhere. Until we address our “parochialism” head-on and re-start the regionalism discussion, no amount of cute polar bear cubs or paeans to architecture will ameliorate the unrelenting grip the small-minded and greedy have on this region.
Stefano Magaddino and the Buffalo mob of yore might be gone, but we’ve replaced them with a new type of mafia that’s less violent but more harmful to the public at-large.