With All Due Respect

Commentary on land use and development issues – and the legal system

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A Liberating Late-April Stroll through Cazenovia Park

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 27, 2023
Posted in: Cazenovia Park, Olmsted Parks, South Buffalo, WNY Photos. 5 Comments

The past two months have been a bummer for me.  Sciatica has prevented from taking my daily walks through my South Buffalo neighborhood and, most importantly, Cazenovia Park, accompanied by my trusty camera (a/k/a, iPhone).  This afternoon I broke free from the confines of my home, and took the liberating stroll I’ve been waiting for.

That walk – and this posting – is dedicated to one of Buffalo’s remarkable nonagenarians, Mrs. Raymond G. Peterson.  (Hopefully, her daughter will figure out a way to share this collection of photos with her).

By popular demand, I will keep my words to a minimum, and let the images of springtime in Caz Park speak for themselves.  I hope you’ll enjoy their beauty, and feel their inherent energy and optimism in the weeks and months ahead.

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Need a reason to visit Schenectady? I have one for you.

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 11, 2023
Posted in: David A. Giacalone, Giacalone family. 2 Comments

As some of you may know, I have an identical twin brother who lives in the Stockade neighborhood of Schenectady, NY.  David and I have many things in common (in addition to our parents, Connie and the-late Arthur P. Giacalone), such as our choice of law school, our tendency to be thought of as gadflies when it comes to tolerance of local government decision-making, and our joy in taking photographs of our respective environs. [By the way, if you wish to stay on his good side, don’t mention to my brother that you can see a family resemblance to me.]

8 - Wedding Bells 9-13-1947

David is the subject of an article written by Indiana Nash in the April 9, 2023 Sunday edition of The Daily Gazette entitled, “‘Beauty Along the Mohawk’: Schenectady through the lens of David Giacalone.”  It tells of my brother’s first exhibition – a couple dozen photographs printed on canvas – on display at Moon & River Cafe at 115 S. Ferry Street the month of April.  [If you read this post immediately after its publication, and you’re near the Tri-City area, there is a reception from 6 – 8 pm this evening, April 11.]

Here’s are screenshots of the article:

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You can find many of my brother’s 2,000 photos of the Schenectady area at https://giacalonephotos.com/.

With All Due Respect (Love & Pride),

Art Giacalone

P.S. I don’t have any recent photos of my twin, but I was able to locate the last picture where we both looked respectable:

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WNY STAMP’s desperate reaction to a decade of failure

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on March 27, 2023
Posted in: Corporate Welfare, Development, Environmental Justice. Leave a comment

UPDATE 04/16/2023:  The Buffalo News has not published the op-ed piece below that I submitted to its “Another Voice” column. Likewise, Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle has chosen not to print a slightly modified version of the piece posted below (its maximum-word length is 425 versus the “Another Voice” 480-word limit).

[I am posting below an op-ed piece that I sent on 03/027/2023 to the Buffalo News for publication in its “Another Voice” column.  I’ll let you know if and when it gets published there.  On March 20, 2023, I sent a much longer set of written comments to Thomas P. Haley, NYSDEC Region 8 Headquarters, 6274 E. Avon-Lima Road, Avon, NY 14414, by email to DEP.R8@dec.ny.gov.  Here are my written comments: AJGiacalone’s Comments on STAMP Take Permit – 03-20-23.  If either the piece below, or my official comments, move you to action, please know that the deadline for submitting written comments to the DEC is March 31, 2023.]

STAMP – the 1,262-acre Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park in rural Genesee County – is a failure. Created over a decade ago with more than $30 million in public funds, it has struggled to attract tenants to a campus 40 miles from both Buffalo and Rochester.

STAMP had lofty goals, envisioning a high-tech campus employing 9,000 people, and accommodating 6 million square feet of advanced technology manufacturing space.

Despite a decade of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC), it’s owner, proclaiming STAMP’s advantages, only one project has broken ground: Plug Power, a “green hydrogen” company. But it took tax breaks and hydro-power discounts totaling $270 million – in exchange for a paltry 68 full-time jobs – to attract Plug Power (a subsidy exceeding $4 million per potential job).

STAMP’s insurmountable problem, its location a significant distance from any major city, has led to an endless series of disappointments. Dreams of luring multi-billion dollar microchip manufacturing facilities, such as Samsung or Intel, never materialized.

The realities of the market place have apparently made GCEDC desperate. It has lowered its standards from a search for high-tech “green” manufacturing facilities to settling for a proposal to develop, on speculation, a massive truck distribution complex. If constructed, the truck traffic, noise, air pollution, and lighting resulting from this low-tech facility would adversely impact the nearby Tonawanda Seneca Nation and surrounding rural community.

GCEDC is also taking its frustrations out on two challenged avian species – the Short-eared Owl and the Northern Harrier.

In 2021, the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) determined that the entirety of STAMP’s 665 acres of open fields is “occupied habitat,” an area where an “endangered” species (the Short-eared Owl) and a “threatened” species (the Northern Harrier) are feeding and overwintering. As a result of DEC’s decision, GCEDC may not lawfully industrialize its 665 acres – and, by doing so, unintentionally engage in “a take or taking” [that is, killing, harming, or harassing] of the subject species – unless it first receives an “incidental take permit” from DEC.

To obtain the permit, GCEDC must propose a “mitigation plan” that will result in a “net conservation benefit” to the two listed species, that is, will benefit the winter raptors to a greater degree than if the proposed STAMP activity were not undertaken.

Rather than meeting that standard, GCEDC has proposed developing 607 acres of its 665 acres of open fields, leaving the two grassland species a mere 58 acres of land for overwintering and feeding.

GCEDC has also engaged in a sinister campaign to intentionally diminish the value of its fields as a useful habitat for the two species. Believing that the owls and harriers prefer hayfields and grassland to row crops, GCEDC has converted 170 acres of hay fields to row crops in hopes they’ll no longer be “occupied habitat.”

Perhaps it is time for STAMP to become extinct.

Sincerely,

Arthur J. Giacalone
Land Use & Environmental Lawyer

Cincinnati’s support for Damar Hamlin shows idiocy of rivalry-hatred

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on January 6, 2023
Posted in: City of Buffalo. Leave a comment

[A version of this post was published on-line January 5, 2023 by the Buffalo News under the headline “Bengals’ support for Hamlin shows idiocy of rivalry-hatred“.]

I cringe whenever I hear a sports talk show host or Bills’ fan say they hate an opposing team, its players, or its fans – whether the animosity is directed at the Patriots, the Dolphins, Tom Brady or any other formidable opponent. It is, after all, only a game.

We should be capable of zealously rooting for our team to win, while also acknowledging the talent, and recognizing the humanity, of our on-field adversaries.

The Cincinnati Bengals players, team, fans and organization showed us why hatred is not the appropriate sentiment. As soon as they realized the seriousness of the injury to Bills safety Damar Hamlin – and recognized the frailty of life, even for a young, world-class athlete – their only concern was for Hamlin’s health and well-being.

Let’s hope this tragic incident helps us all to remember the humanity of each and every human being, whether or not he or she is wearing the jersey of an opposing team.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

WBFO’s decision not to cover Buffalo’s blizzard is an unacceptable breach of trust

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on January 4, 2023
Posted in: City of Buffalo. Leave a comment

WNED and WBFO have been a constant part of my life since the late 1970s, and I’ve been a financial supporter for nearly 40 years. Unfortunately, Western New York and Southern Ontario public radio listeners are learning what happens to high-quality news and programming when a CEO with a distinguished public broadcasting career is replaced by a media and entertainment executive whose prior experience involves stints at MTV, Spotify and VH1.

In a nutshell, the needs of the public are no longer priority number one.

Despite our region knowing several days in advance the need to prepare for the multi-day “extreme weather event” that was relentlessly racing our way, WBFO’s management failed to properly develop a strategy for its news team to cover the once-in-a-generation storm that was forecast to force road closures, shut down the city of Buffalo, and threaten the lives of many.

Just when detailed, local reporting of news and weather was critical for the safety and lives of its listeners, the staff touted as “the largest radio newsroom in Western New York” with more Associated Press awards than any other radio station in the state, was AWOL, providing the public zero coverage of the blizzard of 2022.

This breach of trust – and disregard of the critical needs of the general public – does not surprise me. Ever since Tom Calderone was named chief executive of Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM), persistent, often juvenile self-promotion, has become the norm.

As an example, prior to the May 14, 2022 racially-motivated massacre at the Jefferson Avenue Tops market, our region’s public broadcasting system was tone-deaf to the tremendous economic disparity in Buffalo. For weeks, listeners were bombarded with promotions for the “Great British Telly Tour” – a one-week luxury jaunt hosted by Mr. Calderone himself – a tour whose “deluxe hotels” and “best restaurants” were only available to 30 affluent travelers, not to the vast majority of Buffalonians.

Even WBFO’s commendable response to the May 14th tragedy, “Buffalo, What’s Next?,” has been treated as a program that can be put on hold for the convenience of the WBFO staff.  It should have been obvious that this holiday season was destined to be an emotionally challenging time for Buffalo’s Eastside community – even before the devastation of the recent blizzard.  Nonetheless, WBFO announced in mid-December that the program would be taking “a short holiday break.” Only “encore presentations” would be broadcast from December 19 through January 9. In other words, the public was forced to make do with three weeks of repeats at a time when a community was most in need of sensitive and intelligent discourse.

To regain the public trust, BTPM must objectively assess where their new CEO has taken our community’s public broadcasting stations, and ask if it is time to begin a search for a chief executive who understands the critical role of a region’s public media organization.

A WNYer’s Perspective on “The American Experience”

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on December 4, 2022
Posted in: WNY Photos. 3 Comments

[December 19, 2022 Note: Here’s a link to the 24 photographs that I entered in the Smithsonian Magazine’s 2022 Photo Contest: 2022 Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest AJG’s APPROVED photos.  Each image includes a caption (with photo details). The photos posted below – with the exception of two images inserted in the P.S. – are included in this grouping.]

Thanks to the challenges of my 46-year legal career, I am not particularly fearful of entering a “contest” where the chances of victory may be slim.  This approach extends to my favorite hobby, taking snapshots of the world around me with my smartphone.  For the second year in a row, I have entered the Smithsonian Magazine’s annual photo contest (which hosts images taken by thousands of professionals and amateurs from around the world). 

“The American Experience” is one of six categories available to a photographer, intended to capture, “Events, objects or activities connecting the American people to their history or their cultural heritage; photographs that tell us what it means to be an American and provide a sense of what it is like to live in this country.”  I submitted 9 or 10 entries in this category, ranging from the intentionally silly, to the profoundly heartbreaking.

Given the unlikelihood that my photos will gain exposure by winning a prize or honorable mention, I thought I’d share them with the readers of my underdog blog.

East Aurora’s “Vidler on the Roof” ignores approaching storm

IMG_1145Vidler’s, “America’s largest 5 & 10 variety store,” attracts tourists to quintessential small town East Aurora. It continues to thrive thanks to the village’s rejection of Wal-Mart in the mid-1990s. A larger-than-life Vidler on the roof, oblivious to an approaching storm, greets customers. 

Snow-capped picnic tables in South Buffalo (hopefully, available next spring)

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Buffalo’s harsh, long winters motivate locals to spend as much time as possible outdoors the rest of the year. Neighborhood taverns have outdoor tables. These 3 picnic tables were nearly buried when a Nov. storm dropped 4 feet of snow. Hopefully they’ll be usable next Spring.

“Doughnut Tree” maintains its dignity (and beauty)

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“Little Ukraine House” in Buffalo NY

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Orange-clad walkers and Seneca casino tower proclaim “Every Child Matters” (N.F., NY)

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Participants in the annual walk, in memory of the lives lost and horrors at Indigenous boarding schools, approach the Seneca casino tower, which was appropriately proclaiming “Every Child Matters” while aglow with the sunset’s golden hue.

Indigenous grandfather and grandson walk to remember Every Child (N.F., NY)

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Indigenous peoples on both sides of US/Canadian border commemorate lost and traumatized victims of “Indian boarding schools” on Sept. 30. This Tonawanda Seneca elder and his grandson join the orange-shirt walkers in Niagara Falls USA.

“PeacePrints” honor the lives of victims of Buffalo’s 5/14/22 supermarket massacre

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On 5/14/22, ten human beings, just going about their lives, were slain in a racially-motivated massacre at TOPS Supermarket on Jefferson Ave. in Buffalo NY. Soon thereafter, the life of each victim was memorialized in a row of PeacePrint doves, planted beneath unavoidable yellow police tape.

Memorial for 10 victims of Buffalo’s racially-motivated mass murder

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Front Porch display of defiance and white supremacy in South Buffalo (5/17/22)

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Ten Blacks tragically lost their lives in a racially-motivated massacre in Buffalo NY on 5/14/22. Public calls for restrictions on the sale of semi-automatic weapons immediately followed. In an apparent response, one Buffalo household defiantly displayed symbols of white supremacy and hatred.

“This is Our City” sign at Buffalo NY unity walk

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With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  I would like to have entered the following images in the Smithsonian contest, but the first one did not meet the minimum-pixel-width requirement, and I did not know how to go about obtaining the “model releases” required by Smithsonian Magazine from all the people whose faces are visible in the second picture.

Indigenous dancer at Strawberry Moon festival in ArtPark (Lewiston, NY)

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Children participate in Haudenosaunee “Tree of Life” planting on Indigenous Peoples Day (Rochester, NY)

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CCI of Buffalo’s Caricature of Italian Culture: the Russell J. Salvatore Courtyard

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on September 18, 2022
Posted in: CCI Buffalo, City of Buffalo, Giacalone family, Papagni family, Russell J. Salvatore, WNY Photos. 8 Comments

Mi dispiace. I am sorry, but this second-generation Italian-American is embarrassed and troubled by the recently installed “Russell J. Salvatore Courtyard” that now dominates Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo’s front yard at the northeast corner of Hertel and Delaware avenues.

CCI could have pursued – in the words of the late, great Buffalo artist, Virginia Tillou – “simplicity, taste and restraint” when designing its face to the world.  As a matter of fact, the original vision of CCI’s front yard, as designed by architect Tommaso Briatico, appears simple, tasteful and restrained, with an appropriately-scaled courtyard patio, reflection pool, and park benches.

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Along the way, however, the accessible and functional courtyard morphed into an ostentatious and unrestrained advertisement for its donor, Russ Salvatore – Western New York’s generous but shamelessly self-promoting restaurateur and hotel proprietor.

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What I find most offensive is the large, two-sided sign that proclaims the “Russell J. Salvatore Courtyard” – complete with an image of Mr. Salvatore’s smiling face that is reminiscent of a multitude of his commercials and ads. Compounding the problem is the location of this display. It is the first signage visitors see as they walk from the CCI’s parking lot to its main entrance, diminishing the stature of the site’s primary feature: the historic North Park Library building.

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While the original plan positioned the courtyard patio in close proximity to the building’s front entrance, the pretentious centerpiece of Mr. Salvatore’s “courtyard” – a fountain (imported, like my paternal grandparents, from Sicily), and the flowers and plantings that surround it – have been placed in the middle of what is now a ceremonial yard.

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The landscaped lawn around the fountain is dissected by a broad pathway of pavers bearing the names of donors. The plethora of fancy urns and decorative benches (backless and inhospitable in appearance), perhaps appropriate at an establishment catering to weddings, high school proms, etc., seems grossly out of place at a not-for-profit cultural center seeking to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for a diverse community.

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Mi dispiace. Illuminating the cultural center’s front yard with eleven (yes, 11) street lamps – making it far brighter than the nearby Burger King parking lot – is excessive and pointless. And it also shows no consideration for the residents in the neighboring house.

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And the white landscape stones covering the space between the courtyard’s fencing and the public sidewalk – identical to what you’ll find at Mr. Salvatore’s suburban establishments – are cold and unwelcoming, unbefitting a culture that loves beautiful flowers, gardens, and plantings.

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IMG_1223 [Taken at Russ Salvatore’s Garden Place hotel.]

My Italian and Sicilian grandparents, who had the courage and resilience to emigrate to the U.S., were humble and hardworking. They were not ostentatious or extravagant. They did not seek recognition when they gave to others. [See P.S. below.] They demonstrated characteristics, qualities and values worthy of preserving, promoting, and celebrating.

1 - Arthur P. Giacalone's Mother & Father [My father’s parents, Ignatio and Virginia (nee D’Amore) Giacalone.]

6 - Bart & Bettina Papagni's Family [Connie (dob 12-08-26) seated on right] [My mother’s family, Bartolomeo and Elisabetta (nee Catino) Papagni, and their children.]

CCI Buffalo’s new courtyard does not reflect the Italian culture and heritage that I know and cherish. It is, at best, a mere caricature of that legacy.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  Mr. Salvatore’s generosity is unquestionable.  So is his need, apparently, to see his name attached to facilities that have benefited by his largess.  For example (in no particular order):  Villa Maria College’s Russell J. Salvatore Commons; Niagara University’s Russell J. Salvatore Student Commons, and Russell J. Salvatore Dining Commons; Lancaster School District’s Russell J. Salvatore Fieldhouse; Trocaire College’s Russell J. Salvatore School of Hospitality and Business; Brothers of Mercy’s Russell J. Salvatore Outpatient Rehabilitation Center; Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center’s Russell J. Salvatore Welcome Center; Erie County Memorial Center’s Russell J. Salvatore Atrium, Russell J. Salvatore Orthopaedic Unit; and, Catholic Charities’ Russell J. Salvatore Food Pantry & Outreach. 

“Red Dress” Remembrance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) – Two Distinct Settings

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on September 5, 2022
Posted in: Canadian Culture, Celebration of Nations, Lewiston, Michele-Elise Burnett, MMIWG, Native American, WNY Photos. 1 Comment

[Revisiting my September 5, 2022 post and The Red Dress Exhibit:  For three days, ending September 11, the FirstOntario Performing Arts Center in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, was home to Celebration of Nations 2022, an annual festival honoring “the heritage, culture and achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples of Turtle Island and beyond.”  This year’s theme, “Honouring Our Matriarchs: Restoring The Balance,” was chosen as a reminder of the essential role women have played – and continue to play – in the survival and nurturing of Indigenous culture and traditions. 

Under the leadership and inspiration of its Artistic Director, Michele-Elise Burnett, this multi-faceted program included a re-imagined presentation of The Red Dress Exhibit that I had visited just a week earlier under blue skies and amidst the trees and greenspace of ArtPark in Lewiston, NY.  The Celebration of Nations’ presentation of the exhibit could hardly have been more dissimilar – indoors, encased within a dimly-lit second-floor theater, intentionally confined by black walls and drapes, and punctuated by solitary red dresses suspended from hangers and artificially illuminated from above. 

“If Only These Dresses Could Tell Their Story” is the subtitle of both Red Dress exhibits.  Aided by detailed narratives of the murdered and missing indigenous women, girls and two-spirit individuals, and enhanced by interpretative material, the thirteen empty dresses do, in fact, communicate profound and heartbreaking messages.  While I found the outdoor setting – with living trees, verdant landscape, and flowing river – more conducive to a hopeful, forward-looking, and inspiring message, they both are intensely moving and evocative. 

My original posting – displaying the dresses suspended from trees on a sun-drenched day at Lewiston’s ArtPark – will be supplemented below with the stark but poignantly beautiful images of the Red Dresses as viewed in the darkened and shadowy confines of FirstOntario PAC.  Please feel free to comment on whether the two distinct settings speak to you in different ways, or, perhaps, if the silence of the Red Dresses overwhelms the “white noise” of their surroundings.]     

On September 2, I visited ArtPark, in Lewiston, New York, to experience the first of a three-day program entitled “The Red Dress Exhibit.”  The exhibit featured thirteen empty Red Dresses – each unique and stunning – created by 13 Indigenous Peoples from the Western New York and Niagara regions. 

As explained by the exhibit’s producer, Michelle-Elise Burnett: “The exhibit is intended to increase awareness for the epidemic of the ongoing horrific systemic racial crimes targeting Indigenous women and girls; to remember the lost lives of the victims; to teach; to give Indigenous women a voice; to inspire a new cross-cultural generation based on inclusivity, compassion, love; and, to collectively offer the MMIWG our love, gratitude create a safe, nurturing and welcoming environment for Indigenous Peoples.”

To help place the horrors of this bi-national scandal into perspective, consider the following statistics compiled by Kenny Lee Lewis (a member of the Steve Miller Band for over 40 years), one of the musicians who performed on September 2: 

A preliminary study by Canadian police found that indigenous women — 4 percent of Canada’s female population — made up nearly 25 percent of its female homicide victims in 2012.
A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3 percent) have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence.
In the year leading up to the study, 39.8 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women had experienced violence, including 14.4 percent who had experienced sexual violence.
Overall, more than 1.5 million American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime.

I fear that any attempt by me to provide a narrative regarding the 13 Red dresses will do a disservice to the individual MMIWG, their families, and their communities.  So – with minimal descriptions – I will let the images speak for themselves (and apologize for not having pictures of each of the beautiful and provocative dresses).

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IMG_1284 [Michelle-Elise Burnett (on the left) holds the dress prepared by domestic violence survivor Mary Annette Clause while Mary is interviewed by WKBW reporter Krizia Williams, broadcast 09-02-2022.]

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IMG_1394 And it’s back side:

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IMG_1289 [“Never Give Up!”]

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IMG_1274 [If I recall correctly, the sunflowers symbolize the source of light, and the ghostly handprints represent the unborn children of MMIWG.]

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Kelly Vacco and Joe Lorigo: Making the most of family ties

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on August 24, 2022
Posted in: Dennis C. Vacco, John A. Michalek, Joseph Lorigo, Joseph Makowski, Judiciary, Kelly Vacco, Political Contributions, Ralph Lorigo, Stupidity. 2 Comments

Voters may think they have a real say in who gets to sit on the New York State’s Supreme Court – our state’s highest level trial court. In reality, they’re deluding themselves. As a recent Buffalo News editorial correctly states: “New York’s corrupt system is specifically designed to take judicial elections out of the hands of voters, who are left merely to ratify the decisions made by party bosses.”

An Overview of this Legal but Unwise Process.

Ninety-five years ago, New York ceased using a primary election process for selecting candidates for Supreme Court Justices, where registered Democrats and Republicans had a say on which judicial hopefuls would appear on the election ballot as their party’s nominees. New York State’s legislature replaced primaries with party judicial conventions controlled by party leaders. Under this system, the party leaders virtually handpick which hopefuls will be on the November election ballot for a judgeship that involves a 14-year term and currently provides an annual salary of $210,900.

This corruption-inducing process is further tainted by a sleight-of-hand referred to as “cross-endorsements.” Rather than each party naming its own distinct candidates, party leaders agree to cross party lines and endorse each other’s nominee. This approach often leads to there being the same number of candidates as there are judicial vacancies – for example, four slots to fill and only four names to choose from – assuring the cross-endorsed candidate a victory. The fix is in, and the public is left with no meaningful choice.

New York State’s method for selecting its most powerful trial judges was challenged in court a couple dozen years ago as violating the First Amendment. The case eventually made it up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which concluded that the selection process was not unconstitutional. [See NYS Bd. of Elections v. Lopez Torres, 522 U.S. 196 (2008).] But a number of the justices on our nation’s highest court made it clear that they did not endorse the arrangement, and sadly reminded us that “the Constitution does not prohibit legislatures from enacting stupid laws.”

The Impact of a Tainted Selection Process.

During my 46-years of practicing in New York’s trial and appellate courts, I have appeared before intelligent and ethical judges, women and men I gladly called “Your Honor.” However, it does not take much imagination to see how a portion of the handpicked “winners” in this flawed selection process might feel more indebted to the political king- and queen-makers who chose them for the post, than to justice and the rule of law. As vividly described in the Buffalo News editorial mentioned above staff, New York’s corrupt system for selecting State Supreme Court Justices “stinks and the smell clings to the robes of the winners.”

For the past three decades, I have challenged zoning decisions and proposed development projects on behalf of average citizens. It has become clear to me that my practice has placed me at the treacherous intersection of the law, politics, and greed. Whether my clients were attempting to protect the quality of life in the Elmwood Village, the Fruit Belt, or the Outer Harbor, their legal claims – and their trust in the law and the judicial process – have frequently been extinguished by compliant and intellectually dishonest judges who are the product of this corrupt selection system.

The selection process has given us judicial embarrassments such as Joseph G. Makowski – forced to resign in 2009 to avoid criminal prosecution for submitting a false and misleading affidavit to the Hamburg Town Court in a failed attempt to help a female friend avoid a DWI charge – and John A. Michalek, disrobed in 2016 and still awaiting sentencing for accepting a bribe from former political operative Steven Pigeon.

Long before these now-disgraced former judges were caught engaging in fraudulent and unlawful activities, I witnessed firsthand their apparent willingness to disregard cogent facts and the pertinent law to ensure that politically-connected developers or lawyers prevailed in land development cases.  [See, for example, here regarding Makowski, and here regarding Michalek.]

Money and Family Relations Grease the System.

Calling it “legalized bribery,” the Buffalo News opinion piece is most concerned with the now-prominent practice of judicial hopefuls, and their family members, generously contributing to the war chest of political leaders. You have to pay to play in order to be considered.

But I am equally troubled by the apparent role of nepotism reflected in this year’s Supreme Court nominees.

Would Kelly A. Vacco – who graduated from Ohio Northern University’s law school in 1992, and serves as Town of Boston Town Justice – have been nominated for such a prestigious and lucrative judicial position, and guaranteed a victory through the cross-endorsement ploy, were she not the spouse of former Republican State Attorney General and long-time judicial power-broker, Dennis C. Vacco? While Mr. Vacco, in defense of his wife’s nomination, rejects the idea that the money his family donated to party leaders influenced his spouse’s selection, he embraces – in an August 18th Buffalo News article – his own “longtime involvement” in the nomination process as one of the factors that led to her spot on the upcoming ballot.

And is there no other lawyer in Western New York better suited intellectually and temperament-wise for a Supreme Court position than Joseph C. Lorigo? Would this registered Conservative and leader of the minority caucus in the Erie County Legislature be on the election-day shortlist if he were not the son of Ralph C. Lorigo? After all, the senior Lorigo has served as chairman of the Erie County Conservative party since 1995, and boasts in his firm’s bio that he has “a strong involvement in judicial races throughout Erie County.” It does look that way.

So Many Losers.

While the political party bosses and operatives select the winners, there are many losers, including: the integrity and fairness of the judicial system; the public’s trust in the judiciary; and, the exceptional lawyers who have been excluded from serious consideration for a judicial nomination simply because they lack the funds, the kinship connections of a Kelly Vacco or a Joe Lorigo, or the stomach for this corrupt system.

We must insist that our State legislators and Governor take steps to repeal the laws that perpetuate this corrupt and unwise method of selecting State Supreme Court justices, and restore the public’s confidence in the judicial selection process and the courts.

With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone

Judicial system that enabled John Michalek’s troubling conduct now coddles the disgraced judge

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on August 7, 2022
Posted in: Dennis C. Vacco, John A. Michalek, Judiciary, Paula L. Feroleto, JSC. Leave a comment

[Update 09-14-2022: On September 13, disgraced former State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek finally started serving a 16-month sentence for bribery.  See Buffalo News on-line article.  Here’s the newspaper’s September 14, 2022 print version of the story:

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And, here’s the September 11, 2022 Buffalo News report on the State Attorney General’s displeasure at Michalek’s “second bite at the apple.”  Bottom line, despite the six-year delay in sentencing, Michalek’s efforts to be treated differently than other convicted felons – and totally avoid incarceration – have failed.]  

[Note: It appears that the Buffalo News has chosen not to publish a piece that I submitted on August 2, 2022 for use in its “Another Voice” column.  I am posting that op-ed submission, with minor editing, below.]

Judicial system that enabled John Michalek’s troubling conduct now coddles the disgraced judge

Former State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek admits that he engaged in a bribery scheme from 2012 to 2014 with Steven Pigeon, former chair of the Erie County Democrats. The fallen jurist now claims that he was blinded by his “desperation” to keep a family member safe.

During that same time period, my clients and I painfully observed, and were repeatedly harmed by, Michalek’s desperate efforts to please yet another political operative, Dennis C. Vacco, a former statewide officeholder from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

I don’t claim to know what was motivating the former judge’s relentless actions to curry favor with Mr. Vacco.  In my prior appearances before Michalek (some winners, some losers), the judge was cordial and never showed palpable bias or animosity toward me or my clients. But in this particular proceeding, the now-disgraced jurist denied me the right to be heard on important legal issues, disregarded well-established legal principles in ruling in my adversary’s favor, applied two glaringly distinct standards when responding to the behavior of the lawyers appearing before him, felt compelled to insult and threaten me in open court, and engaged in communications with opposing counsel’s office without affording me an opportunity to be present.  [See Ltr to JMichalek 02-07-13 re ex parte communications; also see, more broadly, MICHALEK – 8 Examples to Share – written in May 2014.]

Michalek was so eager to embrace every assertion made by my opposing counsel – no matter how preposterous – that he didn’t blink an eye or respond when Mr. Vacco arrogantly proclaimed during oral argument, “There are 30 days in February, unless there’s some new calendar I’m not aware of.”

My attempts to bring Michalek’s erratic behavior to the attention of the judicial hierarchy went mostly unheeded:

– I twice asked the then-Administrative Judge for Western New York, Paula L. Feroleto, to schedule a conference with the parties and Michalek to discuss reassignment of the case to another judge. She declined, claiming the lack of authority to interfere with the case.

– Although the intermediate appellate court agreed that Michalek had abused his discretion when he concocted a legal theory – without any factual support – to preclude me from communicating with a non-party corporation, the appellate panel refused to reverse Michalek’s decision not to remove himself from the pending lawsuit. According to the now-disgraced jurist, “I have searched my conscience and I perceive no bias or prejudice against Mr. Giacalone or his clients, or in favor of the plaintiff or its counsel.”

– The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct twice refused to open an investigation into Michalek’s behavior.

Now the same judicial system that stood by while Michalek curried favor with one political operative, handles him with kid gloves when addressing his punishment for engaging in the bribery scheme with Pigeon: a six-year delay in sentencing; a sentence of one day less than a year for bribery; a decision not to send Michalek to a state prison; and, a mysterious post-sentencing delay in incarceration.

This is no way to regain the public’s trust.

Sincerely,

Arthur J. Giacalone
Attorney-at-Law, 17 Oschawa Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14210, (716) 436-2646, AJGiacalone@twc.com

Note: Mr. Giacalone has practiced law in NYS for 46 years, and writes about development law and the judiciary at his blog, WithAllDueRespectBlog.com.

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