NFTA is in the news again. Looks like they’re closing in on a deal with landing a cargo and a passenger carrier from Europe (MartinAir) and EuroFly-a passenger carrier from Italy. Previously, China Air and a low cost carrier from Vegas was interested too.

Okay. Cool. But I still have never read an explanation of why Buffalo-NIAGARA international can’t just extend their runway to get these flights. Last time I checked, we’re pretty gosh-darn close to the Falls and we already have a good sized, beautiful, landmark airport, ready for expansion. I think its ridiculous to have two airports in such a region.

Anyone care to explain to me why I’m wrong?

Okay so in the news today there was an article about Schumer wanting to make Niagara Falls Airport a big cargo airport since it has such a huge runway and they could land planes from China and India. Okay. I get that. But the NFTA is on crack. They still insist on adding a passenger terminal to the airport. I know BNIA adds more and more passengers every year but its not like its a jam packed place with multiple terminals. And notice that its called Buffalo-NIAGARA. Its for the region…the region with the dying economy and population so please tell me why you will make an airport to compete with one you already have?

Okay so let me give you a better way to spend the 20 something million you want to spend on the passenger terminal in NF
1. Add more gates at BNIA
2. Extend runway at BNIA for those alleged foreign airlines that have an alleged interest in coming here.
3. Build a line from the Airport to Niagara Falls and then another one from the Airport to Downtown.

Its pretty simple my friends.

Oh yeah and PS the NFTA once said their would be a light rail line from downtown to Niagara Falls by 1996. Oh man those NFTAers, they sure know how to crack a joke.

Buffalo Business Journal reported that the NFTA is spending 36 million to upgrade all their rail cars by 2010.
I’ve been asking myself how they’ve managed to still let the ol’ brown/orange/yellow color scheme remain while using the blue and red mostly. This year they finally changed all the subway station signs to fit the new colors but way too many of the old rail cars remain. Now we can no longer have eyesores as subway cars. Whoop whoop.

So Artvoice decided to trash the Buffalo News…again…for being against the NFTA wanting to make the NF airport-a commercial airport. Basically Artvoice wants the NFTA to spend money on a new airport because they can. The only arugement made really is that the BNIA runway is too short to handle international carriers. AeroMexico among some other airlines are interested in flying to the Falls and obviously can not fly into Buffalo since the runway is so short.
Hey look, I’m a genius so I came up with this
SPEND THE MONEY ON A FRICKIN RUNWAY EXTENSION AT BNIA INSTEAD. KTHXBYE.
and perhaps spend the leftover on a Light Rail extension to the airport? Sounds good to me.
Jesus, what metro region our size has two airports? BNIA has been a great success story and increases passengers each year with new flights added all the time. The new NF airport would be TWO gates. TWO. Um…we have enough gates for at BNIA and we just need the runway to extend out another 2,000 feet to handle international flights.
Afterall it is “Buffalo-NIAGARA International Airport”
owned by the
NIAGARA Frontier Transit Authority

[smacks head]

Artvoice just likes to see nice looking things pop up in the city that are uneccesary like this thing and the new Peace Bridge.

My friend takes a “Hip-Hop History” class and today they looked at some NFTA document from 1989 (so apparently they go a little beyond hip-hop) I thought it was some interesting stuff so let me share it with you…

Here is what it says…

3. Status of No Service
Galleria Mall: There ar eno plans to go into the mall because mall owners do not want Route 6, which is the most effective route to use. The y feel that it will not bring in the type of people they want to come to the mall. G.Foster suggested other options included using Route 30 from the Airport in off-peak hours or the use of Route 4 from the Thruway Mall, but it will be a long walk for passengers and also a hazardous one across Walden Avenue if the busees cannot go into Galleria. D.Hanratty will contact the owners to see if they still feel the same way about the use of ROute 6, and if so, what will she tell the press when they question why Metro has no service to the Galleria Mall.

…wait, why do the mall owners have authority over this? Couldn’t the NFTA be like “Um, no…we are going to have the 6 stop at the mall”. Instead, they covered the owners’ asses.
FYI…a Galleria employee died crossing the street on her way to work in 1995…she used the bus everyday to get to work. All because some owners shuddered at the thought of seeing black people shopping.
Here’s some links to stories involving the case

I’m a bit impartial to “A Foul Nazi Pant” and “Fatal Queer Yeast”.

So I picked up a copy of UB’s student magazine, “The Generation”. In general, I don’t like the magazine at all and therefore have vowed to only pick it up when there is an interesting cover (i.e. Thomas Vanek) but the latest issue’s coverstory was the student populations effect on the environment so being the Urban Planning fiend I am, I picked up a copy. Inside I found a well written article about the NFTA student pass system and how UB has not signed on. The alleged reason for UB students not having the pass provided to them is the demand is in question. Okay…so seemingly every school that is significantly smaller than UB has the pass but UB won’t have enough demand? Please, if 30% of the students used it (grad students included) then that would be more than the entire student body of Daemen College so end of arguement there. We already pay $30 in tuition for our super duper “UB Stampede” bus service, and extra $25 for a pass that takes us all over the Buffalo-Niagara region would be great for Buffalo. Unlike the other schools around here, UB has a significant amount of people who are completley unfamiliar with Buffalo (and of course only have the preconcieve notion that all of Buffalo is a dump of fat people who just watch Bills games and eat wings during 24/7/365 blizzards). Wouldn’t it be great if these out-of-region students could have a convenient way to witness downtown for themselves?
Granted, the stubborn Long Islanders will never say Downtown Buffalo is great, or that our pizza is eddible, but if they see something to do Downtown, they will do it. Being one of the few locals who dorms, I end up getting random calls from people all the time about “where is this?” “how do I get to that” “what is there?”. Usually they all find it too inconvenient so they just stay back in the isolated society that is UB North Campus. With a NFTA Student Pass, the chances of future UB alum looking back and having positive memories of Buffalo-the city, and not just the not-so-stunning architechture of North Campus with its surrounding trees till kingdom come, increase greatly. And with a student body of 27,000 and increasing-that will only help.

Sorry about that but I got really excited when I read this…

“A key part of the project is replacement of the ground-level portion of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s Allen-Hospital Metro Rail station.
While the underground tracks and platforms will not be affected by the street extension, a new above-ground station will need to be designed and built.
‘We’re really excited about the possibilities for the new station as a mixed-use building, a building that will be great for us and the community,’ said NFTA Executive Director Lawrence Meckler. ‘I’d expect this is something we’ll make decisions on in the next year as the planning process moves forward.’”

…Stop the presses! A new metro station!?!?! I never thought I’d hear such a sentence spoken in Buffalo…ever. And I’m absolutley positive it wont be hideous like all the other above ground stations they have. Now only if they could go to UB North Campus and the Airport.

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metro2, originally uploaded by believeinbflo.

Well, I guess i should have expected this from the Buffalo News…
http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20051129/1002958.asp

Seriously, I ride the metro a lot, and I love Buffalo to death but some of the stuff she says…

“Classical music adds an elegant calm. The trains and stations are spotless, and they’re beautiful. The Amherst Street Station, for instance, sports a mural of arts-and-crafts homes.”

…um, the Amherst station is one of the wierdest looking stations, it looks like they decided to put ugly, outdated drwaing of houses on a wall. The classical music, yeah just imagine how wierd you feel standing for a train at the Summer/Best station at 11pm with some rugged looking Buffalonians you don’t know in a not-so-pretty area, and then to top things off, you have classical music playing at a cheap looking metro stop. Its more eerie than beautiful.
I will say the meto does serve a purpose if you live off Main Street and you need to go further down Main (especially places on main that don’t allow cars, of course) but other than that, us Buffalonians have the right to make fun of it all we want.

That the Buffalo Metro transforms into the NFTA Mental Asylumn on wheels at sundown?
I just found out today.

…i return to regular bloggin status w.a new blog to announce as well starting tomorrow night!