Archive for September 4th, 2006
“You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I never could have reached without you,” Agassi said, struggling to control himself. “Over the last 21 years, I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life.”
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A great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It had its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all parts of a civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connection which holds it together. The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation, prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their laws; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost every thing which is ascribed to government.
— Thomas Paine, Rights of Man [1791-1792]
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Ignore the fact that throwing a ton of government money at this store is a bad idea. The building is ugly! It will make downtown look like an amusement park. People will be confused and think they are visiting DollyWood. What are visitors to Buffalo going to think when they see our urban revitalization efforts based on fishing lures? Put the obscene amount of public money into something worthwhile, like Joel’s plan for a new, consolidated ECC campus downtown.
Free Buffalo was born in opposition to using vast amounts of public funds to subsidize the Bass Pro project.
We have issued a number of studies and reports on this subject. Subsequent events have confirmed much of what we said. For example: there was no deal; Bass Pro wasn’t spending $57 million; and the project would drag on for many years.
Now, almost two years later, we are told by an anonymous source that the entire project is being overhauled. That confirms one of our very first statements: there was no deal on Bass Pro on November 29th, 2004.
Our overall conclusion at this point? The Bass Pro model of development is a failure. It cannot be made to work with “better people.” It cannot be made to work with minor procedural reforms. There has to be a clean sweep of new ideas and structural reform that pushes development decisions away from bureaucrats and government authorities and toward the free market where people have real incentives to get good things done quickly. The political class has had fifty years to do something with the waterfront and they failed. Let’s stop doing what we’ve been doing for fifty years: rewarding failure and making the same mistakes over and over again.
We invite you to review our prior studies and releases and articles on Bass Pro–
News Alert No. 1 - Bass Pro Memorandum of Understanding
Policy Report No. 4 - Bass Pro and Buffalo
Jim Ostrowski
President
Free Buffalo
