Doubting Thomas Blog

Archive for the ‘community’ Category

Today’s Buffalo News has an editorial encouraging readers to make a comment on the latest stage of the planning process of a new Peace Bridge. I’m commenting on the Peace Bridge web site, but I’m also encouraging people to consider the following.

I’m still waiting for someone to explain why Buffalo would want a new Peace Bridge. The reasons that I’ve heard so far are unconvincing. Here are a few:

1. More traffic. Buffalo will benefit from having more trucks drive through it.
2. More tourists. Buffalo needs another architectural feature to draw people to its West Side.
3. More jobs. Buffalo needs the jobs that would be created for construction workers.

Let’s start with the last one, jobs. Who gets these jobs, residents of Buffalo? I don’t think so. Bridge construction is a specialized field, so the men and women working on a new bridge won’t be from Buffalo. And won’t half of the workers be Canadians?

Next up, tourists. From what I’ve seen of the plans, a new bridge will only be able to be seen from the highway–the already chopped up Front Park will lose even more of its space. There won’t be any place to park near it and take photos. Also, let’s say that there were a nice place to stand and take photos of the bridge. Can anyone point out how that would be a positive impact, economically? Are they seriously expecting a huge increase in postcard sales?

Lastly, more traffic? Seriously, who thinks that would be a good idea? More trucks means more pollution. More asthma for the residents of that neighborhood. More accidents. More noise. Fewer homes. I’ve heard people say that those trucks will stop and buy stuff as they pass through Buffalo. How can people really think that? A trucker who just spent a couple hours waiting to get through customs is not going to find the nearest coffee shop and take a break. Not going to gas up, either. Show me the statistics of how many truckers are currently stopping for gas or coffee once they cross the Peace Bridge.

So, WHY is a new Peace Bridge needed?

A friend of mine emailed this link to me, after I sent a link to this article to him.

It’s easy not to think of the poor around the world, isn’t it?

Go ahead, click on GlobalRichList.org and find out how your wealth compares to the rest of the world’s poverty.

I’m making every effort NOT to be paralyzed by guilt and stuck on the idea that ‘There’s nothing I can do about it.‘ There’s got to be something.

The boys and I went sledding at Chestnut Ridge Park yesterday, where we saw a sign that says the toboggan chutes are opening soon. I read in today’s paper (well, I read it on the newspaper’s web site) that the toboggan chutes will be open next week. I can’t wait to take the boys on that ride!

I was surprised to learn that the toboggan chutes have been closed for four years. It has been that long since we were there last? I am pretty sure my oldest son went down the chute with me, but that would have been five winters ago, and I am pretty sure he was too young back then.

Sledding with the boys is a lot of fun. I’m still young enough to go with them, and they’re not old to want to go without me, so it works out great. We crashed a few times (that’s part of the fun), and I managed to avoid landing on my bad shoulder. You know you’re old when you are thinking, as you fall from your sled, ‘I need to make sure I don’t land on my bad shoulder.’

We were dressed for cold and wind. My face mask stayed put, but the boys were wearing a different style of face mask, with a larger opening for the face, instead of the eye- and mouth-holes my hat has. They didn’t look scary at all.

Sledding at Chestnut Ridge Park reminds me of the sledding hill where we went when I was a kid. We used to walk through several fields and hedgerows to get to the back fairway of the golf course, then walk through half the golf course to the hill. It seemed like miles. But the hill was so huge it was worth it. The boys asked me if the hill at the golf course was bigger than the hill at Chestnut Ridge, but I wasn’t sure. I haven’t been past that hill in many years, and I know that our memories of things from our childhood always make things seem larger than they are.

To shoot the video below, I held my camera phone in my right hand, leaving only my left hand to hold on to the sled. The problem I had with only one hand on the sled was NOT that I almost fell out of the sled, but that I couldn’t steer. As I went down the hill, I had to steer by dragging my feet in the snow to avoid running over other sledders.

At least I didn’t drop the phone in the snow.

Instead of making resolutions, I’m writing down plans…well, not plans exactly, but stuff that I want to do.

I think most of these ideas are feasible. What do you think?

1. Finish the house we started in 2009. I’d like to incorporate green technology, but we’ll see.
2. Get back to running my favorite seasonal business, The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co.
3. Go to more pro baseball games than we did in 2009. I’d like to see my first major league game. In Toronto. I know what you’re saying…someone my age has never seen the MLB in person? Nope.
4. This one is related to #2 above. I will lose a little weight and continue to improve my cardiovascular health. Riding The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co, it would be nearly impossible to gain weight.
5. Do more writing, even if it just more-frequent posts on this blog. I do want to get back to real writing, though.
6. I’d like to learn to speak another language. I studied French in high school and college, so I remember some of that, but “Quiero aprender a hablar español de este año.” (Without having to use Google Translate.)
7. I have a bunch of audio cassettes that I want to convert into digital files, so that I can actually listen to that music. (Younger readers may want to ask their parents if they have any audio cassettes in the basement that they could look at.)
8. I say this every year, but this year is different (partly because of the divorce). I want to spend more time with old friends. I have not ever visited my friends Jesse, Rich, Craig, or Greg at their houses.
9. I’d like to buy an electric car. A Tesla Roadster would be nice, but I would “settle” for a a hybrid Fusion.
10. We live near a lot of water, so I’d like to make sure we get the canoe wet a lot this summer. The Buffalo River is a lot more scenic than you’d expect.
11. Another thing I’ve wanted to do for years, but somehow haven’t found the time to do, is ride my bicycle across New York State. The Erie Canal is a great way to go.
12. I want to take the boys camping, somewhere that they’ll never forget. I think the Adirondacks would be great.
13. We’ve been attending church more regularly, but this year, I would like to make it such a standard part of our life that the boys don’t resist going, when they are at my house on a Sunday. But here’s a problem I haven’t figured out how to resolve: I like three different churches, but I can’t go to all three on the same Sunday morning. Ultimately, I think it will be better if I am more actively involved with one of those three churches, doing things besides just attending morning church services.
14. Many of these things can be done, and some should be done, with family. Baseball, bicycling, and church, for example. This year, I would like to have time to visit my family members at their houses, but also to make the house we’re working on large enough for everyone to gather here for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

What about you? Will you be doing any of these activities?

Statistically speaking, the Buffalo Bisons are the worst team in the league right now. They have lost 47 of the 73 games they have played so far, which gives them an average of .356, which is 15.5 games behind the best team in the North division leader, the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees.

I have a proposal for sports teams. Instead of charging fans the same price for admission to every game, modify it up or down, according to how far above or below .500 the team’s record is so far this season.

For example, at today’s home game, every ticket is $7.00, no matter where you sit. The team is .144 below .500, so the price of each ticket is reduced by a factor of .144. Tonight’s tickets would therefore be $5.99 each. Tomorrow night, the most expensive ticket in the ballpark is $11.00. (I know! Isn’t that a deal?!?) If their record doesn’t change tonight (for example, they get rained out again), the ticket price would be adjusted to $9.42.

If the Bisons had the S/WB Yankees’ record of .568, the ticket price would be adjusted up by a factor of .068 to $11.75.

This provides a financial incentive for teams to play better and win more, and gives fans more incentive to come see teams that stink.

Go Bisons! Boo Yankees!