Numbers don't lie about population drop in Buffalo
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
Some random thoughts on a few items of interest that may or may not have recently made headlines...

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The recent discussions about the latest plans for the redevelopment of the City of Buffalo's inner harbor have many people excited about a complete overhaul of the waterfront area.

New retail outlets, entertainment venues, office space and of course, the long-talked-about Bass Pro store are all key pieces to the project, but perhaps the most enticing part of the plan revealed earlier this month by the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation is the new housing that would be built as part of the "Canal Side" project.

Anytime you can introduce new dwellings to the city is a good thing, especially when you take a step back and look at the hard numbers when analyzing the dramatic drop in population for the City of Buffalo.

Chew on these figures: in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000, the city's population fell from approximately 580,000 residents to around 292,000.

Call it Western New York, call it the Buffalo-Niagara region, call it whatever you want, there's simply no hope for this area of ever being truly revitalized and being boosted economically unless the city itself has a major surge in population.

The good old days of folks from the suburbs jumping on the bus and heading downtown to spend a day exploring the city are long gone. We need people who are already downtown - preferably living in these proposed new homes, townhouses and apartments - to help Buffalo thrive once again and reverse the trend of a steadily declining city population.

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Some observers of the national political scene have recently been wondering how the timing of next year's political conventions may impact who is nominated by each party.

In other words, who the Democratic Party decides to endorse may have an effect on who the Republican Party selects as their candidate as they attempt to hold onto the White House.

For those of you keeping score at home, the schedule for the national conventions for the Democrats and the GOP in 2008 has the Dems converging in Denver Aug. 25 to Aug. 28, while the GOPs get-together is slated to take place from Sept. 1 to 8 in Minneapolis.

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Internet-savvy readers of this column may want to take note of a new Web site that provides some interesting, informative and entertaining commentary on politically based news items.

Gramigna says that www.newwnypolitics. com is a Web site that he and Carrie hope will offer readers "local political news and commentary that is responsible, offers good journalism, features quality writing and is a Web site that people will enjoy reading

A direct competitor to Joe Illuzzi's political news and rumor gossip page that is touting itself as "the new political Web site for Western New York," the new Web site is published by Scott Carrie and features editorial comments written by Glenn Gramigna, a former writer and sales representative of Illuzzi's.

without the sensationalism or self-indulgent personal material that is seen on that 'other' Web site."

The mix of political news, detailed interviews with elected officials and commentary from Gramigna's Web site is a breath of fresh air for the political junkies of Western New York who have grown sick and tired of Illuzzi's often-incoherent rants that, in the past, have involved personal attacks on some of the local politicians who have either a personal or a professional disagreement with Illuzzi, who is viewed by many as a politically biased individual.

Illuzzi's open criticism of Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan and county executive candidate Jim Keane could backfire and ultimately lead to Illuzzi's eventual demise if Keane is successful at the polls in November.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. For more information on WIN or to provide feedback on this column, visit our Web site at www.wnynewspapers.com. Comments can also be sent directly to Meyer by sending an e-mail to: meyersmusings@gmail.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)