An Article Submitted by Ed Flynn

Five years ago the average price for a gallon of gas was approximately $1.50. The price of diesel was around the same price as gas.

Today they are asking $3.79 for a gallon of gas, and $4.55 for a gallon of diesel. That is more than double what we paid to fuel our cars, minivans, trucks, sport utility vehicles and Harleys five years ago.

In this new era of a rising population driving more and a shrinking supply of oil, should we expect a doubling of the price of fuel every five years? Or is the rate at which the price of fuel is rising going to accelerate like a “Ford Cobra Mustang” on Route 219, when news reaches the mainstream media that the major oil fields in Saudi Arabia have reached their peak and now will only supply a diminishing return?

What the price of fuel will be in 2013 is anyone’s guess. I’m guessing the price will be higher than it is today.

Offering yet another public service, the Front Door of OP Blog will now host a weekly poll.

You will find the weekly poll question and voting interface on the right sidebar of the Blog page, directly below the OP Phony “Comprehensive Plan” Time Tracker.

A new poll question will be added each weekend (on Saturday), and the poll will close for voting on the following Saturday at 11:59 PM.

The initial poll question displayed, “Should an OP Wal-Mart Superstore Be Built Across From Quaker Crossing” will expire on Saturday night, May 10, 2008.

On occasion, you may even notice mulitple polls available for your consideration.

Simply click on your desired polling answer and then click “VOTE” . You can only vote once per session or visit (and hopefully you’ll only vote once for each weekly poll question anyway, just to keep things scientific).

At any time during your visit, you can click on the “VIEW RESULTS” link to see current voting results and trends and total number of current votes recorded.

We’ll establish an “OP Front Door Poll Archive” page and accurately record the final results of each poll for your future review and reference.

Thank you for your interest. Happy voting!

 

The Final Scope for the proposed OP Wal-Mart Supercenter Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), proposed for 19 acres of undeveloped land (purchased by Wal-Mart for $4.62 M) at California Road and Milestrip Roads across from the Quaker Crossing strip mall is now available on-line at the Town of OP website.

The Final DEIS Scope was approved by the OP Town Council on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 by unanimous vote.

It was posted today, May 2, 2008.

Here’s the link to the Adobe .pdf document (right click to download):
http://www.orchardparkny.org/town/planning/docs/pdf/WalMart_Final_Scope_Document_2008.pdf

For your review and consideration.

An Article Submitted by Chris Willet

At first glance, it appears reasonable to approve the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter across from Quaker Crossing, even from a land use perspective. Because the Milestrip Road Corridor is a highly trafficked, nonresidential strip with easy access to a major expressway, it seems a fitting location for major retail development.

Why not put all of the town’s strip malls in one place? Further, cursory investigation reveals that business development brings tax revenue to the town.

A thorough examination, however, reveals a substantial number of adverse (and in some cases, cumulative) environmental impacts - consequences that, if appreciated by members of the Town Board, would doom the project.

The Wal-Mart proposal is more than just another symptom of over-development in Orchard Park; it is both unnecessary and unwise. 

As a public service, The Front Door Blog has begun tracking the current elapsed time since approval of OP’s Phony Comprehensive Plan back on September 19, 2007.

Yes, you can now keep up-to-date on the number of months and days that have elapsed since approval of this phony Plan every time you visit this Blog simply by glancing over to the top right column of the main page, just under the calendar.

This is because the phony Plan, an embarrassing cut-and-paste masterpiece, has yet to be implemented.

The “Front Door” of Orchard Park Blog will record its 15,500th hit this week.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Please visit often.

 

We’ll have a lot more to share with you.

 

The fun has just begun in OP.

You got to love the Wal-Mart marketing folks.

They are offering all of us Orchard Park residents free drinks.

All we have to do is attend their “Open House” on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Free is good, and perhaps this generous offer and concern for our collective thirst (in hard economic times, no less) will have a tremendous impact on swaying public opinion regarding the Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for 19 acres of vacant land (costing $4.62M) at California and Milestrip Roads across from the Quaker Crossing strip mall.

The offer of free drinks was advertised in yet another glossy mailer sent to OP residents (except to those of us in zip code 14224 - Ha!). Their generosity even made the Buffalo News: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/southernsuburbs/story/331568.html

Here they are:

I wonder if they got the idea of the “door” from this Blog.

‘Come on down - there’s nothing like an event with free drinks. ‘Hope there’s beer.

We can raise and click our plastic cups and offer them a toast to the fine future contributions they will make to our community character and quality of life.

Perhaps drinks will always be free at their new store, too.