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Re: (rshsdepot) Buffalo, NY
Former Erie depot in Hornell. NY -- the Erie Depot in Buffalo has been a
memory for a long time.
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 3:54 PM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Buffalo, NY
This political news story also serves to highlight the high costs
associated with restoring older railroad structures, in this case, the
former Erie depot in Buffalo
From the Buffalo News...
PVC vs. iron hits hard in Buffalo development
By ROBERT J. McCARTHY
News Political Reporter
12/2/2002
Every year for several sessions of the State Legislature, Buffalo's top
political and business leaders trooped off to Albany with a wish list of
reforms aiming to spark interest in a city long forgotten by developers.
And topping that list was the need to relax outdated building codes that
those developers said dampened interest in resurrecting scores of
architecturally significant downtown buildings.
So when Albany responded by adopting codes that streamlined construction
procedures, new hope rose from the dust and debris of long-neglected
downtown structures.
But it didn't take long for the ways of Albany to chip away at those
reforms and return to the status quo. After contributing significant
dollars to Albany politicians over the past few years, the union
representing New York State's plumbers and pipefitters convinced the
Legislature and Gov. George E. Pataki to reinstate cast iron pipe
requirements for waste and venting in many structures - an "end around"
that critics say hiked costs and placated special interests.
Union leaders respond that no price should be attached to rules that
protect firefighters from noxious fumes emitted by less-expensive PVC pipe,
and that health and safety concerns led to overwhelming support in both the
Assembly and Senate. But it is clear that Albany's reversal on a key reform
sends a signal that no measure - even one assigned paramount importance by
mayors around the state - is safe from the right amount of political
pressure.
"It doesn't help any city's efforts to redevelop - period," said Andrew J.
Rudnick, president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "It's an example of
the wrong people in New York creating bad economic policy."
"There appears to be no rational reason for this bill other than to feather
the nest of some unions," added Edward C. Farrell, executive director of
the New York Conference of Mayors.
The ramifications of the bill are just now being recognized, as is the
story behind its passage. Among them are:
Developers such as Buffalo's Carl P. Paladino say special interests are
chipping away at the building code reforms, making redevelopment of some
downtown buildings less attractive.
Cries of political interference entered the picture just as Pataki was
actively courting union support. The Pipe Trades Political Action Committee
gave more than $146,000 to New York politicians over the last three years,
including $7,000 to Pataki (who signed the bill), and $2,500 to Sen.
Nicholas A. Spano, R-Westchester (who sponsored the bill in the Senate).
Union officials say that 95 percent of the State Legislature (including
virtually all of the Western New York delegation) voted for reinstituting
the piping requirements because they protect workers and firefighters.
Pataki's own agencies dealing with regulatory reform and building codes
recommended against the bill's approval.
The bill's "middle of the night passage" at the end of the 2001 session
highlights the way much legislation is handled in the Capitol. The
Conference of Mayors says the reinstatement of cast iron pipe requirements
was printed and passed in three days at session's end in 2001, giving
hardly any legislator the chance to even read the bill.
"It's the way the Legislature works at the end," Farrell said. "The
leadership rams through the stuff they don't want anybody to know about."
While the debate over cast iron vs. PVC seems far removed from Buffalo's
economic revitalization, it represents a key piece of a larger puzzle being
assembled by Mayor Anthony M. Masiello and other mayors around the state.
The fact that special interest groups stymied something deemed so
important, they say, highlights their power in Albany.
"As always, the special interests in Albany find a way, and to the
detriment of localities like our city," Masiello said. "This reform was an
absolute necessity and in the best interest of the city, and now it gets
watered down."
One of the first to recognize the situation was Mayor Shawn D. Hogan of
Hornell, whose industrial development agency is rehabilitating the Steuben
County city's former Erie Railroad depot as corporate headquarters for
Alstom Corp., the Hornell-based rail equipment manufacturer. Hogan said the
code revisions allowed the Hornell IDA to begin the depot project until
officials of Rochester's plumbing and pipefitting union notified him that
cast iron - and not cheaper PVC pipe - was required for the project.
"One of the most onerous things of the old code was insistence on using
cast iron for waste water and venting; it's three times the cost of PVC,"
Hogan said. "But because the New York pipe trades did not get their way
with the codes council in the Deparment of State, they went to their
friends in the Legislature who sponsored a bill. In essence, they
reinstituted the plumbing and drainage standards that were so onerous in
the old codes."
Hogan estimates the reinstituted requirements add $200,000 to the Alstom
project his city is managing, because cast iron costs more than PVC,
requires more support because it's heavier, and needs more workers to
handle it. So far, he's ignored the union demands to obey the new
regulations.
"I suppose I'm violating my oath to uphold the laws of New York State
because I'm not dealing with it," he said. "But in good conscience I can't
deal with it because there's no reason for it all."
That galls Ron Behan, business manager for the plumbers and steamfitters
union in Rochester, who reminds Hogan and other New York mayors that the
law is the law. He hopes the state Department of Labor will begin to
enforce what the Legislature passed and the governor signed.
"They see the law and then choose not to enforce it," Behan said. "I just
don't believe elected officials should do that."
And the union says genuine safety concerns about toxic smoke emitted from
PVC and confronted by firefighters is the real reason for the change. Jim
Hart, special representative for the United Association of Plumbers,
Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitters said he lobbied in Albany for reasons far
more important than union featherbedding.
"Plastic pipe burns, smolders and emits toxic fumes," he said. "You
wouldn't want to be in a building with a plastic fire. It's thick, it's
pungent, and it kills.
"The cost argument is a fallacy," he added. "And even if (it were true),
what cost would you put on someone's life?"
Now, developers encouraged by the earlier code reforms are concerned.
Buffalo's Paladino owns many downtown properties in Buffalo, Niagara Falls
and Olean and says responsible relaxation of the codes (which includes
corresponding requirements to enhance safety) is "critical" to bringing
back faded downtowns.
"The code stuff is the whole ball game," he said. "These guys were union
guys trying to make more work. That's the sick mentality that puts us in
the spot where we find ourselves."
Pataki spokesman Joseph Conway noted the bill had broad bi-partisan
support, and the toxic fumes potential made it a "public safety issue,
plain and simple."
"We felt we should err on the side of public safety," he said adding the
measure will be assessed again when a sunset provision allows it to expire
on Jan. 1, 2005.
Spano did not return a phone call for comment.
Masiello and Rudnick, both of whom endorsed Pataki for re-election this
year, acknowledge their support for the governor was based to a large
degree on his commitment to relaxing mandates such as the cast iron pipe
requirements.
"Reform should lead to expediency and a less expensive process, and here
again it doesn't," Masiello said. "Typical Albany. We're a stepchild to
everybody down there."
"Are we disappointed? For sure," Rudnick added. "That's an example of what
we hope will not happen in a third term."
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===========
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
------------------------------