Written by Rob M

How’s it going Buffalo Geek readers? My name is Rob, and Chris has asked me to guest blog on his site. His exact words were “You can write about whatever you like; education, beer, politics, philosophy, linguistics, sports, plumbing, Florida living, etc.” I may get to each of those topics at some point (when was the last good plumbing blog that you read?), but let me introduce myself first.

I grew up in West Seneca, but I now live in Orlando. I have been down here since February of 1999. I moved here for better job opportunities, and yes, partially because of the weather, too. Chris and I grew up together and have best friends since the first day of class in Mr. T’s 5th grade class however many years ago. Through both of us moving around the country, we have lost touch a couple times. We got back in touch almost a year ago, thanks to him being profiled in the Buffalo News (and special thanks to my mother sending me the article).

My parents, and a few friends, are still in Buffalo, and I get up there to visit at least once a year. Except for the first year, I have been home for Thanksgiving, or Christmas (or both) each year. I also try to get up for a week each summer, but that doesn’t happen every year. I am still a passionate Bills fan, though I don’t get to see as many games as I like. I don’t have a dish, so unless they are playing one of the Florida teams, I usually have to go out to watch their games. My girlfriend is from DC, and a Skins fan, and we know a couple places with enough tv’s where we can watch both our teams play. I don’t follow the Sabres as closely, at least not until the playoffs. Like the Bills, unless they are playing Tampa Bay, or they are on Versus (channel 167 on my cable, as I found out in time for Game 1 of the playoffs last year–poor RJ Umberger), I don’t get to see too many of their games. I am also still not crazy about the new logo, no matter how many times I saw it last month when I was home for Christmas. It is better than the goat, but I still would have liked to see them go old school. Unfortunately, they didn’t call and ask me.

Well, that’s all for now. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. I have never blogged before, but I will try to give you the same level of sophistication you have come to expect from Buffalo Geek. Talk to you again soon.

Time: 2:25AM
Date: 1/30/07
Where: BuffaloGeek HQ
What: A Moment of Clarity

I finally had time to sit down in front of the computer to bang out a few posts and update the blog. Unfortunately, I was completely spent after I spent the day playing with my baby boy, spending some quality time with Mrs. Geek, searching for office space for WNYM Headquarters, negotiating contracts with partners, coordinating project management with the WNYM web design team, identifying board members and fundraising for the official non-profit organization that we are building for Buffalo Old Home Week, working with a production staff on a WNYM television show, and working my actual day job.

So, I decided that I needed a break from the blogosphere until I can get some of the other projects together.

Oddly enough, it was about a year ago this week that I spoke with Marc Odien about starting a blog at WNYMedia.net. From that conversation came my involvement with dozens of local non-profit organizations and a quick entry into the world of citizen/community journalism. In just one year, I have interviewed gubernatorial candidates, US Senators, US Congressmen, State Legislators, State Assemblymen, Mayors, Presidential candidates, business and community leaders and been a part of a national scandal. It’s been an incredible year and speaks to just how easy it is to make a difference, even a small one, in this very community. Quit bitching, be active, get out of the house, start a blog, join an activist organization…be the change.

I’ll be taking a few weeks off to get my other projects in line and reorganize my life. In the interim, I have asked a couple of frequent commenters to keep the material rolling on the BuffaloGeek blog.

Pauldub, eac, and Expat Rob will be submitting their random musings and thoughts on things that matter to them. I’ll let them handle their own introductions and I’m certain that you’ll enjoy the content they provide. I’ll stop in occassionally to add a few of my own thoughts as well.

In a couple of weeks, you’ll see a fresh look for WNYMedia.net and a ton of new and exciting content.

Until then, keep reading!

There is an absolute avalanche of content for me to write about, but I am completely bogged down with work. I’ll be back tomorrow with some spicy fresh content for my loyal readers.

Local, State, and National Politics, Buffalo News Blogs, Buffalo Old Home Week, WNYM, and Hillary…it’s like an orgy of potential blog content.

I share in the general public excitement that one of our grandest buildings, The Statler Hotel, will be receiving a much needed facelift. I also share in the excitement that a youthful developer from out of town sees value in our architecture and unique sense of place.

However, I don’t wish to share in the breathless cheerleading and borderline hero worship that seems to be developing around Bashar Issa. In fact, I think it makes us look pretty damn pathetic. We’re acting like the nerdy girl who has never been asked to dance. Is our self-esteem that low?

I’m not skeptical about the likelihood of his success nor am I casting a cynical eye on Mr. Issa’s intentions. I’m just a guy who is proud of his city and wants to see us maintain a little bit of dignity.

When the Statler is completed and I see cranes in the air around the site for the Buffalo City Tower, I’ll thank Mr. Issa for his efforts. Until then I’ll applaud Rocco Termini, Sam Savarino, Carl Paladino, Ben Obletz, Paul Ciminelli, and Carl Montante for completing projects that make Buffalo a better place to live, work, and play.

I hope that issuing a simple “Welcome to Buffalo, Mr. Issa” will suffice…

As was reported last week on WNYMedia.net, our local newspaper has decided to enter the blogosphere. Which of course raises the question; where will they get established bloggers and how will they lure them into the Berkshire Hathaway family?

Well, it appears that one of their first steps is to hit up the WNYMedia.net family in order to acquire citizen journalists, amateur pundits, and purveyors of esoteric nonsense.

I have not been approached about transferring my blog to Buffalo.com and I hope the rest of our local bloggers resist the allure of the corporate confines of our local paper of record. We’re open to working with them but, independence has its privileges.

In case you need a reminder, here is what we stand for at WNYM. We might not offer free coffee or the opportunity to consider yourself a coworker of Mary Kunz Goldman, but we do offer you the ability to join the media revolution that is forever changing the face of journalism.

Stay independent.

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The City of Buffalo is abuzz with the fact that our love for imported Canadian swill has primed the keg of economic development.

While I am glad that Labatt USA has seen fit to relocate their headquarters from Norwalk, CT to Buffalo, NY, I can’t help but be troubled by the following statistic:

The local Labatt distributor, Try-It Distributing, says the brand’s market share in the Erie Niagara region is 28 percent. That’s a huge slice for an import and close to No. 1 Anheuser-Busch at 30 percent, Try-It Chairman Gene Vukelic said.

Try-It sells the equivalent of 1.8 million cases of Labatt products in Erie and Niagara counties a year. That’s 43 million 12-ounce bottles, or roughly a half-dozen six-packs per capita. That doesn’t count the Labatts that area residents consume on trips over the border.

It’s disheartening to this cerevisaphile that 58% of beer drinkers in the Erie-Niagara area consume domestic and imported swill rather than tasty lagers and ales.

Welcome to town Labatt, even though I ultimately pray for your demise.

From a larger perspective, Labatt choosing Buffalo as their USA headquarters is a marketing chit in our favor as we attempt to leverage the economic success of nearby Toronto for local growth. If we can point to Labatt being here, other Ontario companies might give Buffalo a second look as their US outpost. Ease of trade, business travel, and proximity to the home office are all things that are in our favor. Bashar gets it, perhaps our local economic development organizations will as well.

Let’s hope this is the first building block of a new economic synergy with our toque wearing friends to the north.

The other day, Governor Spitzer introduced his choice to head up the upstate branch office of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).

Daniel Gundersen appeared before a phalanx of reporters from Buffalo and Rochester in the Empire State Development Corp.’s Liberty Building offices as Spitzer’s choice to direct his upstate development efforts.

The governor lauded him as one of the “pre-eminent economic development officials in the nation” and said his appointment fulfills a top campaign promise to bolster the state’s economic development program in the struggling region west of the Hudson River.

“He knows how to get deals done; he knows how to get jobs created; he knows how to leverage the state’s economic development dollars to get real results,” Spitzer said.

The governor also said 20 professionals will be added to the Buffalo office to assist the new economic development officer.

Craig at Northcoast seems to feel the selection of Gundersen was uninspired and will prove fruitless. Why? Because Gundersen has never been an actual businessman.

Anyone who harbored any lingering hopes that Governor Spitzer might put some new ideas to work to spur upstate’s economic growth, saw them dashed once and for all with the announcement of his economic development team today. His choices and their records are just more of the same of New York State’s (Democrat and Republican alike) big-government, “five year plan” style of dealing with business. To begin with they’re professional bureaucrats.

Now, I understand a negative knee-jerk reaction to one of Tom Kucharski’s buddies being hired for the job, but I can’t agree that success as an economic development professional requires previous success in private industry. Rarely will you find in the professional business ranks a person who understands regional zoning regulations, Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) programs, economic incentive packages, etc. Why? Because businesspeople are in the business of doing business, not regional economic planning. Also, Gundersen seems to have a nice mix of government and business education in his background.

Dan Gundersen is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a Masters in Governmental Administration, with concentrated study in public management and finance at the Wharton School. Recently, he attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education program on global strategy.

So, does Gundersen have the chops to tackle the economic morass that is Upstate New York? It would appear that he has a decent track record of success in his previous position as Executive Deputy Secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. However, most of his success was based upon business development in the Greater Philadelphia region, which as you can assume, is not very similar to Buffalo and Upstate.

I guess you have deduced that I’m not sure what to think of Mr. Gundersen, (aside from thinking of the movie Fargo every time I hear his name). It would appear that he’s got the right skills, the right connections, and a track record of big city success. He also is not from here, which is a major chit in his favor. New ideas and a focus on knowledge-based economic development are sorely needed in this area so, I remain cautiously optimistic.

The critical factors that will determine Gundersen’s level of success are completely beyond his control. Will Spitzer give him the freedom to act independently of the downstate office? Will critical reductions of our astronomical property and corporate income taxes be enacted? Will Spitzer follow through on his pledges to make New York more business friendly by reducing onerous regulations and costs?

Until he does, success will be incremental…

The Buffalo News reports that a preliminary agreement has been reached between the City of Buffalo and the union members of the Buffalo Fire Department.

Buffalo firefighters would see their salaries increase by more than 30 percent over the next 51/2 years under a proposed contract settlement that will be sent to the Common Council and control board for immediate consideration.

In return, negotiators said firefighters would agree to numerous cost-saving concessions, including insurance givebacks, changes in injured-on-duty policies and a rule that all firefighters hired in the future live in the city for their first 15 years on the job.

Mayor Byron W. Brown said the contract will save the city $7.5 million by 2011.

Hold the phone, you mean a pay raise to firefighters won’t result in spiraling costs? How does that happen? Through smart negotiations, BuffaloGeek style…you might remember that early last year, I had the following to say about the manner in which the city negotiates contracts with its unions:

We need to approach the union leaders and negotiate an entire package of reform and investment in their people. The problem with our leaders is that they focus on single issue negotiations in each contract. In any particular year, the city representatives attempt to force the unions into accepting a single issue savings point (single payer health care, single officer patrols, etc.). The unions balk, demand raises, threaten lawsuits, etc. It’s a never ending cycle. It’s also proven to never work. So, should we keep doing something that has never really worked? Or should we perhaps change strategy?

My partially educated recommendations on a package that should be presented to the union?

I would approach the firefighters with the following package:

- Early retirement for senior staff (the source of significant overtime costs)
- 10-15% base level pay raise across the board to those who remain with a 5% increase to make up for no raises in past years
- Implementation of a GPS dispatch model and related infrastructure, based on the system used in Portland.
- Use of data from said dispatch model to determine which firehouses could be consolidated without significantly increasing response time to emergencies
- Increased training to reduce injuries and a general reform of the injured-on-duty regulations
- Improved field communication systems
- Establish an issues working group in which rank and file union members are elected by their peers to work directly with city management to address emerging issues in the department.

Here’s what the union ended up receiving as a result of the recent negotiation:

- 30% base level pay increases phased in over time
- 3.5% increase for time spent without raises
- Residency requirements
- Single provider health carrier
- Reform of injured-on-duty rules

Some might argue that the union gave up more than they received but, raises for their members was the most important demand they brought to the table. In the end, you have to give to get and the city and the union walk away somewhat pleased with the outcome. The paradigm that forced a broad based negotiation strategy? A fiscal control board. Sometimes, it’s not all bad to have one looming over our city.

I am disappointed that the union did not hold out for increased training monies, new equipment, and a general modernization of the dispatch system as described here. Perhaps they brought those issues to the table, but I am not privy to all the details of the negotiation process.

A modernized and more agile fire department would save lives, reduce injuries, and control costs. Why not look for ways to bring new ideas to the table?

Maybe it’ll happen during the next negotiating cycle…

I doubt I’ll get much action on this as most everyone is out at the State of the Union Watch Party, hosted by the WNY Coalition for Progress. I am not in attendance due to baby geek watching duties but, I long to chat about the speech with someone who doesn’t drool.

If you have any comments, log ‘em here. I’ll stop in between feedings and diaper changes…

Full SOTU Speech

Full Democratic Response

Forbes.com notes that Google intends to build a datacenter in Lenoir, NC.

Search engine giant Google Inc. plans to spend up to $600 million to build a data center in North Carolina, state officials and the company said Friday.

The so-called “server farm” could eventually employ 210 people in a region hit hard in recent years by layoffs in the furniture and textile industries.

“This company will provide hundreds of good-paying, knowledge-based jobs that North Carolina’s citizens want,” Gov. Mike Easley said in a statement. “It will help reinvigorate an area hard hit by the loss of furniture and textile jobs with 21st century opportunities.”

The state will give the company $4.8 million as part of a total incentives package that could reach more than $100 million.

It sure would be nice if one of our local politicians had the grasp of the current economic realities in this country and was focused on bringing knowledge-based jobs and new ecoonomy companies to the area rather than pining for the days of assembly lines and union cards, wouldn’t it? I digress…

I did a little research on the criteria used by Google to choose their regional datacenter locations and searched for a little background on what a search engine company needs regional datacenters for anyhow. What I found was pretty interesting…

As of late, Google appears to be on a bit of a buying spree as it pertains to network bandwidth and land for computing facilities. The have recently announced plans to build datacenters in Columbia, SC; Goose Creek, SC; The Dalles, OR; and dozens of places in between.

What are they doing? Lashing together a series of network and computing relays known as the “Googleplex”. In layman’s terms, it’s the world’s biggest computer. Each datacenter serves as an information relay to speed search and advertising traffic across the massive fiber network that Google has leased from ISP’s…at least that is the stated goal. In the end, Google will use these datacenters to become the overlords of the internets…at least that is what preeminent techie blogger Robert X. Cringely thinks:

I think Google is building for a future they see but most of the rest of us don’t. I’ll go further and guess that Google is planning to build similar data centers in many states and that the two centers they are apparently preparing to build here in South Carolina are probably intended mainly to SERVE South Carolina. That’s perhaps 100,000 servers for four million potential users or 40 users per server. What computing service could possibly require such resources?

The answer is pretty simple. Google intends to take over most of the functions of existing fixed networks in our lives, notably telephone and cable television.

How do they intend to do this? Well, it’s rather simple, really.

The Internet as we know it is a shell game, with ISPs building their profits primarily on how many users they can have practically share the same Internet connection. Based on the idea that most users aren’t on the net at the same time and even when they are online they are mainly between keystrokes and doing little or nothing when viewed on a per-millisecond basis, ISPs typically leverage the Internet bandwidth they have purchased by a factor of at least 20X and sometimes as much as 100X, which means that DSL line or cable modem that you think is delivering multi-megabits per second is really only guaranteeing you as much bandwidth as you could get with most dial-up accounts.

This bandwidth leveraging hasn’t been a problem to date, but it is about to become a huge problem as we all embrace Internet video. When we are all grabbing one to two hours of high-quality video per day off the net, there is no way the current network infrastructure will support that level of use. At that point we can accept that the Internet can’t do what we are asking it to do OR we can find a way to make the Internet do what we are asking it to do. Enter Google and its many, many regional data centers to fill this gap.

It is becoming very obvious what will happen over the next two to three years. More and more of us will be downloading movies and television shows over the net and with that our usage patterns will change. Instead of using 1-3 gigabytes per month, as most broadband Internet users have in recent years, we’ll go to 1-3 gigabytes per DAY — a 30X increase that will place a huge backbone burden on ISPs. Those ISPs will be faced with the option of increasing their backbone connections by 30X, which would kill all profits, OR they could accept a peering arrangement with the local Google data center.

Seeing Google as their only alternative to bankruptcy, the ISPs will all sign on, and in doing so will transfer most of their subscriber value to Google, which will act as a huge proxy server for the Internet. We won’t know if we’re accessing the Internet or Google and for all practical purposes it won’t matter. Google will become our phone company, our cable company, our stereo system and our digital video recorder. Soon we won’t be able to live without Google, which will have marginalized the ISPs and assumed most of the market capitalization of all the service providers it has undermined — about $1 trillion in all — which places today’s $500 Google share price about eight times too low.

After reading about Google’s plans for global technical hegemony, I started chasing the tail of information on other locations of planned Google datacenters. They appear to share a few characteristics; namely remote locations with close proximity to the internet backbone and cheap, reliable power. Each datacenter announced is located a stone’s throw from hydroelectric, nuclear, or bio power generation facilities, which means high capacity power lines and reliability. They are also near cities that serve as hubs on the fiber backbone of the Internet. Since they are buying outside cities like Atlanta, Portland, and Charlotte, their overhead is lower. These datacenters are also located in areas in which the city, county, and state will bend over backwards with incentives to land a company of Google’s reputation.

Does this sound like site selection criteria that fits Buffalo like a glove, or what? Perhaps someone from the BNE, BNP, ECIDA, BERC, or any of our other alphabet soup economic development agencies could put a call into Google and let them know that we’re a pretty sweet site from which to launch their plans for total internet domination. Is it just me or does this seem like a better idea than begging Bob Rich’s fishing buddy to open a $60MM boondoggle bait shop on our waterfront?

We’re near the most reliable hydropower production facility on the planet, sitting on the international fiber backbone between Toronto and New York City, offer lots of cheap collegiate labor, and oh by the way, we’ll probably just go ahead and pay you to set up shop here. Actually, screw that, I’ll make the call. I’m pretty certain the business development monkeys would screw it up anyhow…

I’ll keep you updated on what happens.

Musings conjured whilst wondering whatever happened to Irv Weinstein…

Top 12 Songs on the BuffaloGeek iPod

Heavy Things - Phish
Je t’aime moi non plu - Serge Gainsbourg
Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns
Roses - Outkast
Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight - Amos Lee
Pretty Little Thing - Fink
Hypnotized - Artie Shaw
If Not For You - Bob Dylan
Listen Up - The Gossip
Eleanor - Low Millions
Right Now - Mocean Worker
New Shoes - Paolo Nutini

- Friday videos will return at the end of this week

- If you aren’t reading the Buffaloi blog, well, you’re no friend of mine. The writer is a recent addition to the WNYMedia.net family and hosts one of the most well-written blogs in the region.

- In case you need a reminder, Joe Illuzi is batshit insane.

- The Buffalo Beast has released their always hysterical list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans on the web. The Beast is moving to a new format (magazine style) and will be distributing primarily through subscription. No more free newspapery goodness. If you enjoy their product, help keep hope alive by subscribing to the magazine.

- If you’re wondering when the new WNYMedia website will be operational, the answer is “soon”. I’ll tell ya, running a blossoming media empire, coordinating a massive non-profit event, working an actual day job, and spending quality time with Mrs. and Baby Geek is a bit overwhelming.

- Buffalo Business of The Week: Hero Sound and Design

Straight up, Mark and Beth at Hero are seriously talented multimedia artists. Stop by the website to check out their work or drop in at the studio in Allentown to purchase something that will make your home or office a little less lame. They believe in Buffalo and deserve your support and patronage.

- Jim Ostrowski appeared on the Hardline With Hardwick radio program this week in the spot that was once occupied by our own BuffaloPundit. Shockingly, Jim is a frequent guest on the Tom Bauerle program and his ideology is more inline with the stated editorial direction of right-wing WBEN than that of Pundit or myself. We’ll see if Jim has enough “name recognition” to be a regular guest on Hardline.

- I’m still waiting for JD Drew to sign his contract with the Red Sox…hopefully, it never happens.

- Is there a better feeling in the world than coming home from a long day and having your baby smile at you? Didn’t think so…

Hillary has declared her intention to run for President in 2008 by taking the initial step of forming an exploratory committee.

From a non-political perspective, I’m excited by the manner in which she declared, using the Internet, as it highlights the increased importance of viral communication in the campaign process. In 2008, the candidate that best motivates the netroots will have the best chance of winning. Howard Dean showed the way in 2004 and now candidates will learn from both his successes and failures.

It’s gonna be one hell of a campaign season.

Now, if only someone could convince Al Gore to run, I’d be a happy man.

Jim Ostrowski and the Free NY crowd typically approach issues with the subtlety of a hammer to the head. I do wonder about the efficacy of delivering reform messages in this manner but, even I think this is a pretty fantastic idea.

As a driver enters Niagara County via Transit Road, the first thing they see is this:

Nice work, Jim.

Within the last 72 hours, I’ve had at least 10 people tell me that we should try and bring Ikea to the City of Buffalo. To me, this is incredibly unlikely and part of our regional desire to look for silver bullet solutions to complicated planning problems.

For those clamoring for an Ikea to be the tenant for an adaptively re-used Buffalo War Memorial Auditorium…consider the following:

International retailer IKEA will build a 345,000-square-foot store in the University area, as first reported by the Charlotte Business Journal on Jan. 3.

The store will be built on 25 acres off Interstate 85 at City Boulevard. Construction will begin this fall, with the home-furnishings giant set to open in spring 2009.

The store will be the chain’s first in the Carolinas. Along with offering nearly 10,000 items, IKEA Charlotte will feature three model homes, 50 room settings, a supervised children’s play area, a 300-seat restaurant and 1,700 parking spaces.

The project is subject to city approval and infrastructure improvements. IKEA and Crescent Resources, which is selling the site and developing the surrounding 135 acres, are filing for minor rezoning changes for the property.

While I agree that it would be nice to have an Ikea right here in Buffalo, there are several things that prevent it from being anything more than a civic wish.

1.) Ikea’s are typically built in suburban areas where there is other retail mass, thus providing for increased customer traffic. Get Dressed and Rainbow do not a retail mass make…

2.) The footprint of the store is absolutely enormous (300-400,000 SF) and requires an incredible amount of parking, two things that are particularly unfriendly to new urbanists and preservation advocates…not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just worthy of being said.

3.) The demographics in Buffalo do not support a store of Ikea’s magnitude. Ikea tends to place their stores in a central location that is easily accessible by wealthy people with cars or university students. Neither of which are typically found in any demographic study of Downtown Buffalo. Also, there are two Ikea stores within two hours drive of Downtown Buffalo, why cannibalize that business?

If Ikea is to ever be built in this area, it will most likely be built in the vicinity of the Eastern Hills or Boulevard Mall. Why? Because that’s where the white folks with money are!

Let’s start focusing on sensible solutions (greenspace, smart code, lake access) to our waterfront development problems and stop looking for an outside interest to save us…please.