"I hate to say I told you so."
June 23, 2021 6:41 AM Subscribe
India Walton claims upset in Buffalo mayoral race (from the Buffalo News): Speaking with reporters late Tuesday, Walton was asked if she considers herself to be a socialist. Her response: "Oh, absolutely. The entire intent of this campaign is to draw down power and resources to the ground level and into the hands of the people."
Walton told cheering supporters at her Poize nightclub headquarters on Niagara Street that she knew all along her appeal to "ordinary working families" would prevail.
“We set out not only to change Buffalo but to change the way progressive politics are run," she shouted. "I brought my island of misfit toys together. This is organizing. When we organize we win.”
Supporters interrupted with a chant of “India, India, India, India.”
“Today is only the beginning," she added. "This is about building the infrastructure to challenge every damn seat. I’m talking about committee seats, school board, Common Council.”
“All we are doing in this moment is claiming what is rightfully ours.”
India Walton: Corporate Democrats Gave Us Austerity, We Need Something Different (interview with Jacobin Magazine)
India Walton's key campaign issues
Walton told cheering supporters at her Poize nightclub headquarters on Niagara Street that she knew all along her appeal to "ordinary working families" would prevail.
“We set out not only to change Buffalo but to change the way progressive politics are run," she shouted. "I brought my island of misfit toys together. This is organizing. When we organize we win.”
Supporters interrupted with a chant of “India, India, India, India.”
“Today is only the beginning," she added. "This is about building the infrastructure to challenge every damn seat. I’m talking about committee seats, school board, Common Council.”
“All we are doing in this moment is claiming what is rightfully ours.”
India Walton: Corporate Democrats Gave Us Austerity, We Need Something Different (interview with Jacobin Magazine)
India Walton's key campaign issues
It's worth reading her campaign issues page. here's hoping she can meet some of her goals. her public safety bullet points would be a good start for any city.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:11 AM on June 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:11 AM on June 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I live in a suburb of Buffalo, and don't have any direct stake in this election, but this is great to see. (and a friend worked on her campaign, so I'm not totally unbiased). Her backstory is pretty incredible, and this New Republic article gives a lot more background on her and the campaign.
It really seemed like incumbent Byron Brown didn't see her as a threat and was over confident about her chances. I would occasionally see commercials for her, but I saw nothing from him. This paragraph from the New Republic article may explain why:
"Her campaign is small, lean by both necessity and desire. Its institutional structure and knowledge has been provided by the Working Families Party, a political apparatus with deep roots in New York with an ideological bent that’s left of the state’s Democratic Party (though it often works with state centrists). The party was so enthusiastic about Walton, they not only abandoned Byron Brown for the first time in his lengthy political career, they’ve effectively run her insurgent campaign."
Buffalo has a population of just over 250,000. There were 21,407 total votes in the primary. She got 11,132 to Byron Brown's 9625. Brown could run under a third party or as a write-in candidate, but there are no republicans running for mayor, so yesterday's primary, in effect, was the election.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:14 AM on June 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
It really seemed like incumbent Byron Brown didn't see her as a threat and was over confident about her chances. I would occasionally see commercials for her, but I saw nothing from him. This paragraph from the New Republic article may explain why:
"Her campaign is small, lean by both necessity and desire. Its institutional structure and knowledge has been provided by the Working Families Party, a political apparatus with deep roots in New York with an ideological bent that’s left of the state’s Democratic Party (though it often works with state centrists). The party was so enthusiastic about Walton, they not only abandoned Byron Brown for the first time in his lengthy political career, they’ve effectively run her insurgent campaign."
Buffalo has a population of just over 250,000. There were 21,407 total votes in the primary. She got 11,132 to Byron Brown's 9625. Brown could run under a third party or as a write-in candidate, but there are no republicans running for mayor, so yesterday's primary, in effect, was the election.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:14 AM on June 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
Former Buffalo suburbs person and this seems pretty amazing for the city. As she pointed out, Buffalo is the third poorest midsize city in the US and she wants to bring progressive politics to western NY. Buffalo is a great city and it deserves a great mayor. Her response to the question Do you consider yourself a socialist? She also has a remarkable backstory. I'm wowed by this!
posted by bluesky43 at 7:24 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by bluesky43 at 7:24 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
This rules, I am so delighted for the city!!! The City of Good Neighbors is also the City of No Illusions, and it's about time we* had a leader who understands the reality of living and working in Buffalo.
As I saw on twitter this morning: @seltzermom
this time last year, buffalo made nat’l headlines when cops in riot gear shoved an elderly activist to the ground.
today, buffalo is making nat’l headlines because the city elected a working class, socialist, community organizer to the mayor’s office
*I don't live in WNY anymore but you never really stop being a Buffalonian
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2021 [8 favorites]
As I saw on twitter this morning: @seltzermom
this time last year, buffalo made nat’l headlines when cops in riot gear shoved an elderly activist to the ground.
today, buffalo is making nat’l headlines because the city elected a working class, socialist, community organizer to the mayor’s office
*I don't live in WNY anymore but you never really stop being a Buffalonian
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2021 [8 favorites]
As someone who has spent most of his adult life voting (at a municipal level) for the Canadian equivalent of a Corporate Democrat because the other option was to vote for the Actual Socialist and put the Canadian Republican in office, I find this news very heartening. Maybe fewer politicians will feel compelled to run away from being identified as a socialist as time goes on...one can only hope.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:58 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:58 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm envious of Buffalo simply for having the results known! We're in for a long irritating haul here in NYC.
posted by praemunire at 8:00 AM on June 23, 2021
posted by praemunire at 8:00 AM on June 23, 2021
It's hard to overstate how much of an upset this is. In my lifetime - and her lifetime, we're both in our 30s - there have only been three mayors of Buffalo. An incumbent hasn't been unseated since 1961.
There's something really interesting going on in Buffalo politics right now - there was also a primary race for Sheriff, and voters rejected both candidates put forth by the parties.
Great post, RobinofFrocksley!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 8:01 AM on June 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
There's something really interesting going on in Buffalo politics right now - there was also a primary race for Sheriff, and voters rejected both candidates put forth by the parties.
Great post, RobinofFrocksley!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 8:01 AM on June 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
Those turnout numbers are kind of distressing though. Is ~10% typical? Does it mean that she might lack popular support for policy implementation?
posted by mr_roboto at 8:05 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by mr_roboto at 8:05 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Those turnout numbers are kind of distressing though. Is ~10% typical? Does it mean that she might lack popular support for policy implementation?
It's an off-cycle mayoral primary, scheduled for the end of June, in a pandemic. You couldn't design a better set of circumstances to depress turnout. This is very much standard operating procedure for entrenched incumbents who can control when elections are held--you only want your own hardcore supporters going to the polls, so you do everything in your power to make it inconvenient and unappealing for the general population to vote. The fact that Walton was able to get 5% of the population to the polls to vote for her in this election is frankly astonishing.
posted by Mayor West at 8:13 AM on June 23, 2021 [12 favorites]
It's an off-cycle mayoral primary, scheduled for the end of June, in a pandemic. You couldn't design a better set of circumstances to depress turnout. This is very much standard operating procedure for entrenched incumbents who can control when elections are held--you only want your own hardcore supporters going to the polls, so you do everything in your power to make it inconvenient and unappealing for the general population to vote. The fact that Walton was able to get 5% of the population to the polls to vote for her in this election is frankly astonishing.
posted by Mayor West at 8:13 AM on June 23, 2021 [12 favorites]
Those turnout numbers are kind of distressing though. Is ~10% typical? Does it mean that she might lack popular support for policy implementation?
posted by mr_roboto at 8:05 AM on June 23
This was a party primary, so low turnout is common. The current mayor received 14,000 votes in his 2017 primary, 15,500 in 2013 and 2009, and 17,000 in 2005.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 8:14 AM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 8:05 AM on June 23
This was a party primary, so low turnout is common. The current mayor received 14,000 votes in his 2017 primary, 15,500 in 2013 and 2009, and 17,000 in 2005.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 8:14 AM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Those turnout numbers are kind of distressing though. Is ~10% typical? Does it mean that she might lack popular support for policy implementation?
Those are normal election numbers for a local election across most of the US. Yes, that is pretty depressing. But since they are, then the answer to the 2nd part of your question is 'No'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:26 AM on June 23, 2021
Those are normal election numbers for a local election across most of the US. Yes, that is pretty depressing. But since they are, then the answer to the 2nd part of your question is 'No'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:26 AM on June 23, 2021
It really seemed like incumbent Byron Brown didn't see her as a threat
YUP! The photo they printed of him in the paper version of the news this morning shows just how stunned he and his wife are.
Short WGRZ interview with Walton from this morning. Her response when the reporter asked her what it was like to have Byron Brown act like there was no challenge from her: "I like being underestimated. That's how you kind of sneak up the middle."
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 8:37 AM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
YUP! The photo they printed of him in the paper version of the news this morning shows just how stunned he and his wife are.
Short WGRZ interview with Walton from this morning. Her response when the reporter asked her what it was like to have Byron Brown act like there was no challenge from her: "I like being underestimated. That's how you kind of sneak up the middle."
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 8:37 AM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm assuming that Buffalo is such a Democratic stronghold that, whomever the D candidate is, they are always a lock for victory in the general election, yes?
posted by Thorzdad at 9:13 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 9:13 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yes. There are no republicans running.
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:24 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:24 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Republicans have given up even trying to run in a lot of cities.
posted by octothorpe at 9:31 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 9:31 AM on June 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Just yesterday: When It Comes to Big City Elections, Republicans Are in the Wilderness
posted by gwint at 9:39 AM on June 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by gwint at 9:39 AM on June 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
From the article gwint linked to:
“I don’t think the right has kept up with the times,’’ Mr. Sanders, 70, said in an interview. He said he renounced his party affiliation on Jan. 7, the day after the mob attack on the Capitol.
The right absolutely has not done that, does not want to do that, and their plan moving forward is to bend the times to their will, by force if necessary.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:52 AM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
“I don’t think the right has kept up with the times,’’ Mr. Sanders, 70, said in an interview. He said he renounced his party affiliation on Jan. 7, the day after the mob attack on the Capitol.
The right absolutely has not done that, does not want to do that, and their plan moving forward is to bend the times to their will, by force if necessary.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:52 AM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
I was up late last night crying and watching the results roll in. So proud of my city right now, and so full of hope for what is to come. (Full disclosure: my husband volunteered for India’s campaign.)
My favorite quote from last night:
“This victory is ours.
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
posted by okayokayigive at 10:27 AM on June 23, 2021 [14 favorites]
My favorite quote from last night:
“This victory is ours.
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
posted by okayokayigive at 10:27 AM on June 23, 2021 [14 favorites]
“This victory is ours.
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
I think it sums up my feelings about the current living generations as a member of "The Oregon Trail" generation (not quite Gen X, not quite millennial) when I say, "Finally, allies! PLEASE HURRY!"
I'm sure there a lot of politicians in elected office right now that feel the same way though I'm sure that statement make a lot more of them nervous.
posted by VTX at 10:40 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
I think it sums up my feelings about the current living generations as a member of "The Oregon Trail" generation (not quite Gen X, not quite millennial) when I say, "Finally, allies! PLEASE HURRY!"
I'm sure there a lot of politicians in elected office right now that feel the same way though I'm sure that statement make a lot more of them nervous.
posted by VTX at 10:40 AM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
This news made me less depressed in light of the really depressing result of the NYC mayoral campaign.
posted by holborne at 11:16 AM on June 23, 2021
posted by holborne at 11:16 AM on June 23, 2021
“This victory is ours.
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
This sums up why this election result makes me so happy, even though I don't live anywhere near Buffalo and won't benefit from it directly. If you're an elected official in a diverse and/or mostly urban area anywhere in America right now, and you've been running with a (D) next to your name for the last twenty years even though your positions are center-right, the last four years have been goddamn terrifying. AOC kicked off the wave of primary victories against incumbents, and then Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar followed up, and now there are mayoral elections with longtime political stalwarts being toppled by no-name contenders running on socialist platforms and shoestring budgets, because people are finally realizing that they can drag the party to the left by focusing their energy on local elections. Trump's not in office anymore, but the wound still isn't scarred-over yet, and people are goddamn PISSED.
Watch out, old white dudes who think you can coast on party affiliation. We are coming.
posted by Mayor West at 11:39 AM on June 23, 2021 [9 favorites]
It is the first of many.
If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice.
We are coming.”
This sums up why this election result makes me so happy, even though I don't live anywhere near Buffalo and won't benefit from it directly. If you're an elected official in a diverse and/or mostly urban area anywhere in America right now, and you've been running with a (D) next to your name for the last twenty years even though your positions are center-right, the last four years have been goddamn terrifying. AOC kicked off the wave of primary victories against incumbents, and then Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar followed up, and now there are mayoral elections with longtime political stalwarts being toppled by no-name contenders running on socialist platforms and shoestring budgets, because people are finally realizing that they can drag the party to the left by focusing their energy on local elections. Trump's not in office anymore, but the wound still isn't scarred-over yet, and people are goddamn PISSED.
Watch out, old white dudes who think you can coast on party affiliation. We are coming.
posted by Mayor West at 11:39 AM on June 23, 2021 [9 favorites]
Republicans have given up even trying to run in a lot of cities.
A lot of Republicans are running as Democrats, too. You have to examine their platforms closely to sort the nubbers from the tuskers.
posted by SPrintF at 12:04 PM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
A lot of Republicans are running as Democrats, too. You have to examine their platforms closely to sort the nubbers from the tuskers.
posted by SPrintF at 12:04 PM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
AOC kicked off the wave of primary victories against incumbents, and then Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar followed up
It's true that Ilhan Omar won the primary in 2018, but she was the party-endorsed candidate and there was no incumbent (Keith Ellison having decided not to run again). She did defeat an incumbent state legislator in the 2016 primary. Which perhaps means that AOC was following Omar's lead...
posted by nickmark at 1:31 PM on June 23, 2021
It's true that Ilhan Omar won the primary in 2018, but she was the party-endorsed candidate and there was no incumbent (Keith Ellison having decided not to run again). She did defeat an incumbent state legislator in the 2016 primary. Which perhaps means that AOC was following Omar's lead...
posted by nickmark at 1:31 PM on June 23, 2021
I'm curious to know what conclusions can be found from precinct-level results (I don't know enough about Buffalo to make sense of the spreadsheet from the board of elections). Someone mentioned the NYC mayoral election, and as disappointing as it is to see Adams in the lead, there are clear patterns that are appearing in the precincts that he is winning. I don't really feel comfortable saying more on a website that is majority white.
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 3:20 PM on June 23, 2021
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 3:20 PM on June 23, 2021
I. The first female mayor of Buffalo is a nurse, a union rep, a nonprofit exec, and a community organizer. University at Buffalo, School of Architecture and Planning, April 14, 2021 event (Archived): Join us for a talk with Buffalo community activist India Walton, founding executive director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust. Walton will present "Running for Our Lives: Creating Equity through Policy and Politics." Having lived through and organized around the inequities faced by Black communities, Walton says Black women are taking their seat at the table to guide policy decisions and lead political movements with the belief that the people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. [...]
India Walton embodies Buffalo’s sense of resilience. Born and raised on Buffalo’s East Side as one of six children, India became a full-time working mother at the age of just 14. She earned her GED while pregnant with twins who were born prematurely, an experience that inspired her to become a nurse in the same NICU where her boys’ lives were saved.
As a healthcare worker, India became a representative in the 1199 SEIU union, standing up for both workers and patients from picket lines in Buffalo to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, where she was invited to speak at a national women’s rights rally in 2014. Continuing to serve as a nurse in Buffalo Public Schools, India witnessed the health disparities among our most vulnerable citizens and became determined to change the systems that cause these injustices. India’s commitment to systemic change called her to become a community organizer for Open Buffalo, establishing herself as a thought leader on a wide range of issues including criminal justice reform and fair housing. Her work on the latter led her to be named the founding executive director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust, for which she worked with longtime residents to develop permanently affordable housing.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:07 PM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
India Walton embodies Buffalo’s sense of resilience. Born and raised on Buffalo’s East Side as one of six children, India became a full-time working mother at the age of just 14. She earned her GED while pregnant with twins who were born prematurely, an experience that inspired her to become a nurse in the same NICU where her boys’ lives were saved.
As a healthcare worker, India became a representative in the 1199 SEIU union, standing up for both workers and patients from picket lines in Buffalo to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, where she was invited to speak at a national women’s rights rally in 2014. Continuing to serve as a nurse in Buffalo Public Schools, India witnessed the health disparities among our most vulnerable citizens and became determined to change the systems that cause these injustices. India’s commitment to systemic change called her to become a community organizer for Open Buffalo, establishing herself as a thought leader on a wide range of issues including criminal justice reform and fair housing. Her work on the latter led her to be named the founding executive director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust, for which she worked with longtime residents to develop permanently affordable housing.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:07 PM on June 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
II. The Fruit Belt Demonstrates the Importance of Neighborhood Identity (Buffalo Rising, April 26, 2019) Established in the 1840’s, the neighborhood was so-named for the fruit trees and fruit shrubs planted by German immigrants who were experienced in agriculture. Like many other neighborhoods, the Fruit Belt established a unique identity that contributed to Buffalo’s rich, cultural heritage during the first half of the 20th Century. As described vividly by Hamlin Park resident Esterphine Greene, the blossoms from the Fruit Belt trees perfumed the entire neighborhood each and every summer, and residents were treated to a bountiful autumn harvest from apples, grapes, blueberries, etc. produced each year. [...] Following World War II, unbeknownst to Buffalo’s growing African American population expanding through the East Side was a pre-planned virus beneath newly affordable housing prices. Redlining was born from urban housing practices dating back to the 1930’s. [...]
In exchange for many third and fourth generation white residents moving to the suburbs, redlining would lay the foundation for expressways that would come through urban neighborhoods during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The fabled orchard of the Fruit Belt would fade into oblivion. To this day, the Route 33 expressway continues to blaze its blaring cacophony through once peaceful neighborhoods. The number of homes and city blocks that would vanish from expressway construction, and the number of residents displaced from their original homes, could never be fully compensated by urban renewal programs of the 1960’s [...] As stated by Esterphine Greene, “Those who have no seat at the table will find themselves on the menu.”
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:07 PM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
In exchange for many third and fourth generation white residents moving to the suburbs, redlining would lay the foundation for expressways that would come through urban neighborhoods during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The fabled orchard of the Fruit Belt would fade into oblivion. To this day, the Route 33 expressway continues to blaze its blaring cacophony through once peaceful neighborhoods. The number of homes and city blocks that would vanish from expressway construction, and the number of residents displaced from their original homes, could never be fully compensated by urban renewal programs of the 1960’s [...] As stated by Esterphine Greene, “Those who have no seat at the table will find themselves on the menu.”
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:07 PM on June 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
As yet another former suburban Buffalonian, I am pleased.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:16 PM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:16 PM on June 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
The photo they printed of him in the paper version of the news this morning shows just how stunned he and his wife are.
So he was buffaloed in Buffalo!
posted by TedW at 12:40 PM on June 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
So he was buffaloed in Buffalo!
posted by TedW at 12:40 PM on June 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Buffalo has a population of just over 250,000. There were 21,407 total votes in the primary. She got 11,132 to Byron Brown's 9625.
Sorry, I still don't know enough about weird US elections to understand exactly what's going on, but this suggests to me that approx. only ten per cent of Buffalo residents actually went out and voted? (I get that there are kids and stuff so let's say, generously, 30%)
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:32 PM on June 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sorry, I still don't know enough about weird US elections to understand exactly what's going on, but this suggests to me that approx. only ten per cent of Buffalo residents actually went out and voted? (I get that there are kids and stuff so let's say, generously, 30%)
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:32 PM on June 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Voter registration is a factor.
Those analyzing Buffalo's stunning Democratic mayoral primary, right up to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, are decrying low voter turnout. The turnout was just over 20% in India B. Walton's victory over Mayor Byron W. Brown. While that figure won't set any records, it is on par with recent primary elections, and that turnout percentage was the highest among Tuesday's high-profile primaries in Western New York. Buffalo has 106,417 registered Democrats, 21,469 of which voted in the primary, a turnout of 20.2%. With 155,958 total registered in Buffalo, it means that 13.8% of the city's voters participated in the selection of the next mayor. - Why turnout in Buffalo's mayoral primary wasn't really as low as some might think (The Buffalo News, June 23, 2021)
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:36 PM on June 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
Those analyzing Buffalo's stunning Democratic mayoral primary, right up to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, are decrying low voter turnout. The turnout was just over 20% in India B. Walton's victory over Mayor Byron W. Brown. While that figure won't set any records, it is on par with recent primary elections, and that turnout percentage was the highest among Tuesday's high-profile primaries in Western New York. Buffalo has 106,417 registered Democrats, 21,469 of which voted in the primary, a turnout of 20.2%. With 155,958 total registered in Buffalo, it means that 13.8% of the city's voters participated in the selection of the next mayor. - Why turnout in Buffalo's mayoral primary wasn't really as low as some might think (The Buffalo News, June 23, 2021)
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:36 PM on June 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
Crikey.
Thanks for the enlightenment, Iris Gambol.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:14 PM on June 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the enlightenment, Iris Gambol.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:14 PM on June 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Someone on Twitter made a precinct map - https://twitter.com/cinyc9/status/1408148845528326147. There is some discussion about what inferences one can make from the map. As someone who knows very little about Buffalo, there is certainly a clear geographic divide. But again, I will not say anything more about my opinion because I do not feel like sharing it on a website that is mostly white and where I run the risk of not being taken seriously because of my race.
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 8:47 AM on June 25, 2021
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 8:47 AM on June 25, 2021
Nice. I hope she wins (there's rumblings from high profile Lincoln Project dipshits of a write-in campaign but who knows how seriously to take that) and comes in with a deep bench ready to go. I hope she learns Corbyn's lesson and purges city hall mercilessly. They're going to lie about her, sabotage her and try to bring her down in the next election no matter what she says or does or accomplishes.
posted by Reyturner at 9:15 AM on June 25, 2021
posted by Reyturner at 9:15 AM on June 25, 2021
As someone who knows very little about Buffalo, there is certainly a clear geographic divide.
I wouldn't read very much about "This is how people in these areas feel!" or "This is how people from these ethnic backgrounds feel!" into the results of a low-turnout primary. The predominant feeling among white people, Black people, Puerto Rican people, immigrant refugee people, people from the westside, Elmwood, eastside, north Buffalo was all the same -- that no candidate was exciting enough to go vote for.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2021
I wouldn't read very much about "This is how people in these areas feel!" or "This is how people from these ethnic backgrounds feel!" into the results of a low-turnout primary. The predominant feeling among white people, Black people, Puerto Rican people, immigrant refugee people, people from the westside, Elmwood, eastside, north Buffalo was all the same -- that no candidate was exciting enough to go vote for.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2021
To this day, the Route 33 expressway continues to blaze its blaring cacophony through once peaceful neighborhoods
As a kid I remember driving on Route 33 and thinking, this is weird! There are super nice neighborhoods on either side of this stupid highway. How did that happen? I knew the general history of plowing roads through city neighborhoods but I didn't know the history of Route 33. Thanks Iris Gambol!
posted by bluesky43 at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
As a kid I remember driving on Route 33 and thinking, this is weird! There are super nice neighborhoods on either side of this stupid highway. How did that happen? I knew the general history of plowing roads through city neighborhoods but I didn't know the history of Route 33. Thanks Iris Gambol!
posted by bluesky43 at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Also, great article Iris Gambol. From the article, this properly symbolizes the spirit of the people of Buffalo.
Beginning in the 1990’s, numerous community-based actions have stepped up to breathe new life into the long-maligned Fruit Belt. The Fruit Belt Coalition, consisting of many sub-groups in the neighborhood, host monthly block club meetings, as well as neighborhood block parties during the summer, including a Christmas in the City event during the holidays. St. John Baptist Church has taken the lead on housing projects around the neighborhood, more recently signing onto a $500 million redevelopment pledge for the neighborhood.
In 2017, the countrywide Endless Orchard campaign arrived in Buffalo. Volunteers planted new cherry, peach, apple, pear, and plum trees, as well as blueberry bushes around the Fruit Belt neighborhood. As a direct tribute to the neighborhood’s heritage, a new orchard will greet the next generation of Fruit Belt residents.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:15 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Beginning in the 1990’s, numerous community-based actions have stepped up to breathe new life into the long-maligned Fruit Belt. The Fruit Belt Coalition, consisting of many sub-groups in the neighborhood, host monthly block club meetings, as well as neighborhood block parties during the summer, including a Christmas in the City event during the holidays. St. John Baptist Church has taken the lead on housing projects around the neighborhood, more recently signing onto a $500 million redevelopment pledge for the neighborhood.
In 2017, the countrywide Endless Orchard campaign arrived in Buffalo. Volunteers planted new cherry, peach, apple, pear, and plum trees, as well as blueberry bushes around the Fruit Belt neighborhood. As a direct tribute to the neighborhood’s heritage, a new orchard will greet the next generation of Fruit Belt residents.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:15 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Mayor Brown is launching a write-in campaign and has apparently opened the floodgates for others to throw their hats in the ring.
posted by misskaz at 10:16 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by misskaz at 10:16 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by windbox at 6:57 AM on June 23, 2021 [19 favorites]