The World According to Bob

(Editor’s note: Each week, Mayor Restaino offers a treatise on city affairs recorded by Our Schools Channel and broadcast to his minions via Youtube. The Express watches to you don’t have to. Here is a transcription. The Mayor had no way of knowing another e-bike/vehicle collision would happen even though he warns us each week but above is a Robshots photo. )

About trees and imaginery micromanagement

“There are some people who think myself, specifically, and more generally the executive office, involves itself in decision making at a very granular level.

“While it is true there are some decisions, particularly with regard to some of the renovations we’ve done at some of the parks and some of those other things, it is true that there may be some specific minor issues that our input is requested but when we talk about things like streets and sidewalks and trees, we rely on people who are more involved in those fields, decisions by engineering, decisions by the forester, those kinds of things.

“So what is really strange is when you have irresponsible commentary, particularly by people who should know better like the President of the Amalgamated Union (Editor’s note: Tim Huether) somehow our office, or me in particular, make decisions on things such as whose sidewalk is going to get done and whose street is going to get repaired and whose tree is going to get taken down. I don’t.

“Is it true that whenever myself or others in the administration are out and about that someone may come up to them and talk about those things, the street, the tree, my sidewalk, but in all of those instances, we then refer that particular location to the department or to the person who is more involved in that type of work for an evaluation to be made. The only way that those decisions can be made is when they are made objectively. To suggest otherwise without any evidence is really a problem.

“With so many things today, people just feel comfortable launching into their own conclusion, their own story-making without any sense of responsibility toward making sure that what they are saying is true. It doesn’t matter to them.

“What matters is the ability to tell a story that will either be intriguing or upsetting or in some way inflame the passions of people. If you think about that on a lot of different levels, the reasons why you see the things that you see, people throwing bricks or stones or whatever it is through the window of a storekeeper because the storekeeper portrays support of a particular candidate or taking it at its worst level is the assassination of someone because they are saying something that a person doesn’t agree with.

“When you talk recklessly like that, you inflame people in a way you may not fully understand or worse, you may do it intentionally for that purpose. Either way, it is a pretty irresponsible way to behave and when people who should be spending their time working or performing their other duties, rather than being rumor mongers, really it is unfortunate, so enough about that. Let’s get on to some good news.”

Hope for Main Street

If you haven’t already read about it, we are excited to report that as we promised when the Urban Renewal Agency took over properties on Main Street that we would try to work out development arrangements for some of the properties. This past week we announced the first four developments happening on Main Street involving a variety of buildings, one of which is the one most familiar to everyone and that is the Jenss Building so we are pretty proud of the fact that our promise is coming to fruition. Now we know that this is not a sprint, it is a marathon we are going to have to work through applications for development. I am pretty confident that the group that we assembled to do that will do that in a responsible way so that we can continue to see that kind of development along Main Street that is steady, to stabilize and bring a new vibrancy to Main Street. We are proud of those developments so congratulations to those developer who have taken on those tasks.

Good financial news

“Additionally we have been enjoying some very good financial news over the course of this year. The third bond-rating agency, Moody’s Investors, has also provided an upgrade to the city’s bond status.

“This is something that we really haven’t seen in quite some time and so we are pretty proud of work, and the members of our administration’s work to make sure that we become more fiscally responsible for the purpose of protecting the investment that taxpayers make in their government.

“We are proud of that bond rating increase and I want to also thank the members of the administration who have worked hard to do that.”

Nice weather – be careful

We are again enjoying some pretty seasonable – unseasonable – weather but enjoyable weather for the last few days. Yesterday we had the pleasure of beginning our recognition for October of Italian American Heritage Month. So many businesses and cultural and social institutions have had contributions from Italian Americans throughout the history of our community and we will continue the celebration through the month of October.

Don’t drink and drive

Again, as I indicated, the weather is great. I think if I am not mistaken, this week’s Bills game is a night game. So the Patriots are coming to town and they can be a little cranky now and again so all things considered, the Bills should continue to be on the way to a great start to the season. If you are going to be out and around, be careful. If you are going to enjoy parties with regard to this game please be safe, be careful and have enough sense to enjoy the rest of the game. Sometimes we get caught up and we need to remember, if you are driving, drive responsibly. If you are out and about, try to remember all of that.

Share the road

As I do each week, I ask you again, be careful when you are out and about on the roads. We just this past summer experienced a number of incidences that could have been avoided just by simple attention to the rules of the road and the way in which we should operate. So again, if you are operating a scooter or bicycle or a motor vehicle just make sure that you attend to the rules of the road. Let’s make the road safe so that everyone can enjoy it. If you are going to be out and around this weekend, the weather is going to be great so be safe and enjoy yourself.