No Primetime Funding for the ON THE GREEN County’s Youths This Year!
A rea Bri efs Ntare Gault Thanks Community: Announces Kickoff of Urban Groove Open Mic Njozi Poets’ Ntare Ali Gault suffered a stroke last month but is well on his way to recovery.” I want to thank all of you for the many phone calls, visits, cards, emails and facebook messages,” he recently expressed. “They truly meant a lot to me.” He recently announced that on Friday, February 25 from 7-9 pm at the 2nd Cup Café the Njozi Poets will kick off The Urban Groove, an open mic to develop spoken word artists, singers, rappers and musicians. Artists from throughout the country and home grown talent will be featured. Each month an exciting showcase will take place at the 2nd Cup Admission for this month in $10 at the door. Ntare also has two CD’s being released this month. The first is a solo CD “An Infinite Love Story. “ the second, featuring The Njozi Ensemble is entitled “Ancestral Links-Love & Other Revolutionary Mumblings.” Both cd’s will be available on February 25th at Urban Groove. Or you can purchase both cd’s for $20. Send to: Ntare Ali Gault, 108 Rose Street, Buffalo, New York 14204.
STATE OF THE CITY: Mayor Byron Brown will deliver his annual State of the City address on Wednesday, February 16 at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. with lunch at noon followed by the Mayor’s address at 12:30 pm. Seating is free during the address portion of the program but reservations must be made by Feburary 9. For more information call (716) 598-4165 or 2011SOTC@ gmail.com
HEAP Outreach Site Announced Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant, 7th District, has announced that a HEAP Outreach Site will be held at the Friends Inc. (formerly Friends to the Elderly), 118 East Utica St. on Wednesday, February 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information contact Legislator Grant at (716) 8940918 or 536-7323.
Redistricting, Reapportionment and How It Will Affect Minority Representation In 2011, new federal census data will be used to determine political lines that will impact the Buffalo School Board, Common Council, county and state legislatures and the federal congressional districts. In addition to the census information, Erie County voters went the polls this past November and voted overwhelmingly, to downsize the county legislature by 4 legislative districts. Not only will Erie County lose four representatives, there is also a real possibility that one or two congressional seats in upstate New York might be on the chopping block, as well. On Wednesday, February 16 , there will be an informational meeting and panel discussion on redistricting, reapportionment, gerrymandering, and the political implication of the One Person, One Vote legislation that is part of the 1965 Voting Right Act. The meeting will start promptly at 6 p.m. so the attendees need to arrive on time. The meeting will last until 7:45 pm, the time the library closes. The panel discussion will be led by Frank Mesiah, President, NAACP; George K. Arthur, Former President, Buffalo Common Council; Maria Whyte, Majority Leader, Erie County Legislature; Charley H. Fisher, Former Councilmember-atLarge, Buffalo Common Council; Clifford Bell, community activist and former Councilmember-at-Large; and Dennis Ward, Commissioner, Erie County Board of Elections. This writer has also requested the presence of Dr. Henry Taylor, Professor of Urban Affairs, SUNYAB but at the time of publication, Dr. Taylor had not confirmed his attendance. The 13 newly appointed members of the Erie County Reapportionment Commission have been extended an invitation to attend the meeting to hear the concerns of the audience, as well as learn more about the redistricting and reapportionment process. For information, please call Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant @ (716) 894-0914 or (716) 536-7323. FEBRUARY 9, 2011
For years, teenagers and the youth of Erie County have had an opportunity to participate in structured activities and programs in the hot, sometimes boring, days of summer when school was out and a wayward or guideless child could get into a whole heap of trouble. Fortunately for them, there were places like the JFK Center, Delavan/Grider Center and the Boys and Girls clubs of Buffalo that could step up and provide them with the love, educational support and discipline they needed to help them to BETTY JEAN develop into well GRANT rounded individuals. A big component of the community center’s program to achieve this outcome, was the funding that Erie County government put into these and other agencies to buy supplies, pay for field trips and, maybe, to pay a modest stipend to the dedicated staff that managed these agencies in the afternoons and during the summer school recess. Individuals such as L. Nathan Hare, Darcel Hunter and others, made sure that when they managed the Primetime program, the money was spent to help to eradicate some of the negative behaviors and actions that many unsupervised young persons were engaged in. The money was desperately needed; it was well spent and, as a result, the community was able to breathe a little easier and feel a whole lot safer. Activities such as Midnight Basketball and Friday Night at the Rinks took the youths off of the street corners and placed them in a controlled environment where they could engage in activities that would not lead to a murder or a gang fight. Parents and grandparents were relieved that their children were in a community center shooting basketball instead of shooting a gun or shooting up themselves via a hypodermic needle! Sadly, for Erie County residents ( and that includes suburban Erie County youths as well) County Executive Chris Collins has decided that county government does not want to play a hand in keeping our youth safe and off these violent filled streets and keeping them in community center and other clubs. The Boys and Girls Clubs Organization has affiliates and branches in almost every suburban and rural towns and villages in addition to the one located in the city of Buffalo. The county’s modest allocation has been matched three to one by the state government in years past. In 2011, due to severe budget constraints, the state did not allocate any funding for the Primetime program.
Still, that is no reason for the county executive to veto the $400,000.00 that the Democratic legislators restored to the budget. How much is $400,000 of county funding, that could have funded this program, when the county is sitting atop a $72,000.000 surplus that the county executive is hoarding in the Rath Building. That money was delivered to Erie County to create jobs and to train unskilled workers, yet no elected officials, with the exception of Democrats Maria Whyte, Lynn Marinelli, Tom Loughran, Tom Mazur, Dan Kozub and this writer, is demanding that Mr. Collins does the right thing by this community and Erie County, as a whole . Where is the outcry from the United States Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand? What about our new State Senators, Kennedy and Grisanti? How about our other African American county legislator? Why are the city councilpersons, especially those who represent the poorest sections of Buffalo, so quiet? What is it going to take for our ‘community’ and beloved Mayor to step up and publicly tell County Executive Chris Collins that what he is doing, is wrong? What are your duly elected officials waiting forHell to freeze over? Well, on a final note: Hell may not freeze over but if something is not done soon to fund these life saving programs that keep our youths safe and occupied, Hell just may be what we will be calling our city streets this summer. Call our County Executive Chris Collins @ (716) 858-8500 and tell him to release the Primetime money!
Saving the Environment is Important to The Gerhardt Area Block Club! Do you recycle? Do you know the importance of recycling and the hazards of not recycling ? Did you know that most of things that we throw in the garbage are dangerous to the environment, such as aluminum cans, glass, plastic, paper, electronics and our every day cooking oil? Everything is recyclable! Saving the environment is important to the Gerhardt area Block Club GaBC! Founder Chantell Franklin, also known as “Miss Recycle,” established the Go Green movement in May 2010. Since then Miss Recycle and the GaBC has strategically created a plan to educate the community about the importance of remaining sustainable. Through our efforts we have minimized pollution and created jobs at the same time. For more information tune to Channel 20 on Friday, Feb. 11 from 8- 9a.m. and 4-5p.m. DO THE WORLD A FAVOR AND RECYCLE, GO GREEN !!!!
Heart health is focus of Good for the Neighborhood event
Heart health is the focus of the Independent Health Foundation’s Good for the Neighborhood program from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, , at West Side Community Services, 161 Vermont St.Representatives from the UB School of Dental Medicine, Upstate New York Transplant Services, Parent Network of WNY, Esperanza y Vida and Preventionfocus (cq) will be available. For more information on this event, please call the Foundation at 635-4959.
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