Here we go again bashing the city council in general and council member Kristen Grandinetti in particular. Well, what else is there to say or do when Niagara Falls is in the condition it’s in and the councilwoman crafts a resolution/proclamation honoring the outgoing chief of Buffalo Planned Parenthood?
Ms. Grandinetti’s slim piece of lawmaking will recognize Karen Nelson, the outgoing CEO of Planned Parenthood of Central and WNY, at the February 8 council meeting as Ms. Nelson moves moves to the Maryland Planned Parenthood office.
And this has importance for city residents, how? One would think the councilwoman would have more critical city business to place before her council comrades than a pointless feel good resolution such as this.
Surely Ms. Grandinetti is aware that that the administration has spent more than $100 million of taxpayer casino cash. A $44 million train station is coming on line soon that will be up the street from the Dyster administration’s $50 million courthouse. This paper has cataloged the many ways the administration has wasted the taxpayer casino funds: out of control public projects, high city hall salaries, outrageous overtime, consultants for every possible reason, lawyer fees through the proverbial roof, repeat loans and grants to favored businesses, trash totes at $2.3 million and – purchased for what was supposed to be decreased trash costs for city residents which instead increased costs and so on.
With the casino money spent and a $64 million debt and $7.4 million deficit in place the mayor and council chairman have gone on record in favor of a city wide reassessment. A reassessment to raise more tax dollars so the administration can continue their unbridled spending. And, in the face of a burgeoning debt and deficit the mayor recently vetoed a council money saving measure: the council’s 3-2 supported resolution that would have ended health insurance coverage for future council members.
Not a peep from the councilwoman on any of this.
At the end of the day we believe councilwoman Grandinetti is paying tribute to the Planned Parenthood CEO as a way of poking her finger in the eye of those who would challenger her abortion politics. We suspect she’s using her council pulpit to remind us that Planned Parenthood is an organization she breathlessly endorses. Good for her. But it’s upsetting to watch as she occupies herself with petty business as the city sinks deeper into debt, deficit and disrepair.
