On the recordApril 10, 2013
In western New York, we don't expect anything to be handed to us. History has taught us that we have to fight for what we deserve. Our community just won two recent victories against Federal bureaucracies by standing up and demanding better. When the Veterans Administration decided to cancel the Golden Age Games just 2 months before they were to be held in Buffalo and stick our community with a $2.2 million loss, the community fought back. Last week, the VA reversed its decision and announced that the games would proceed as planned. When the Army Corps of Engineers decided to prohibit access to Squaw Island Pier in Buffalo, a popular fishing destination on the waterfront, we pushed back hard. This morning, I met with Corps officials. They assured me that public access to the site would continue. Western New Yorkers won two victories in 2 weeks because we stood up for ourselves. Let this be a lesson to our community and a warning to the Federal bureaucracy: when you make senseless decisions that hurt western New York, you're going to have a fight on your hands. ____________________
