Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
Honorable Erik Fix, Batavia assistant city manager, states $1 million was allocated to fix (not Erik) the silos at the Genesee Country Mall. Seriously, sir?
You blithely fling, float, flare-up, and otherwise fire these money sums about -- $1 million here, $110,000 there, $2.5 million in the pipeline, $7 million in the works. All those commas and zeroes alone make me cross-eyed. How about you? Where exactly, Erik, do you think all this largesse is coming from? From the pockets of you and me, my brother, whether indirectly or just a simple pick from our pockets when we're not looking. (Refer to Dickens's character, the Artful Dodger). Growing on trees, falling from heaven, a windfall from a benefactor? Nah, straight from what you have, to those that don't, to those in need to fund their projects.
Treat these sums, my good man, growing more astronomical for public "improvements," day by day, with a little more seriousness. With more care and concern and circumspection, less free flightiness and light-heartedness.
Last I looked, Mr. Fix, for American publicly-funded budgets, since the government doesn't generate a profit, we're dependent upon the productivity of the American working person. You and me, Erik. Now sir, make a decision: would you rather have the fruits of your productivity in your bank account or pay for a fix of the silos? Yeah, I thought so, me too, we think alike!
Did you bother to count the people who use those silo entrances? Did you bother to ask the people who used the silo entrances whether they cared about the condition of the silos? Do you even have a master plan for that mall? Did you ever wonder what the walkers who principally and overwhelmingly use that mall for exercise and physical conditioning, good things, will do when the UMMC community health center and YMCA, a hop, skip, and a jump down Main Street, is completed? Yeah, I didn't think so! But I did: they will wholeheartedly lickety-split, road-runner-like, flock to the new improved facilities. And who will then be left to use that mall? Only to slam the doors for the last time on the fixed $1 million silos. Five simple questions, Erik, and if you answer "No" to three or more, why are we sinking your and my hard-earned money into the silos?
I know, my man, that you're not responsible for the past and present of that mall, but now you're in the driver's seat for the future of it. I hope that you can steer that "white elephant" to a safe, sane, and secure demise. Just throwing money at it will certainly not accomplish that.
