What If?

6 Responses to “Boom on the Bay”

1. Scott
   July 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am

   1 day a year the resdients had to deal with a few people in the neighborhood. I suppose the residents will get tired of killing trees and try to sink the barge with the fireworks next year. Tell the residents to grab a couple cones and rope off their property if they don’t want anyone on their property. The city of Erie should make plans to canvas the area for garbage the next morning though.

   If the police in the area had to disberse a few folks in the area I am sure they would have done it elsewhere in the city.

2. Daria
   July 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

   Now really Scott, where do you live?

   Have you read who actually killed the trees on the Foot of Liberty? It was Mr. Paul Brugger, who in fact DOES not live in OUR beloved neighborhood but generates tons of income by his rental condos and resides on WOLF ROAD. The residents of Liberty Street, and Front Street, value our trees, our wildlife and our properties. IF you have ever driven down past 4th and Liberty you would see that. So actually, yes, we get tired of “a few people ” who don’ t actually live here KILLING our trees too….. May I Scott, please come to your house and trample on your flowers or your lawn and leave some cigarette butts scattered on it? Pop cans? Candy wrappers?
   If so please send me your address!!!

   And you say a ” few people”? Try a few hundred.. It took two and a half hours for the traffic to clear Liberty Street alone…The Mayor was present in a Police Vehicle and I had the chance to speak to him. He said this was exactly what happened at Mercyhurst after so many years of the fireworks being done there. The residents there grew tired of the same circumstances, hence, they were moved to a new location.

   Sadly Scott, it’s folks with attitudes similar to yours that ruin events such as these. We would love to see folks enjoying the fire works from the bluffs with due respect to the boulevard and our neighborhood. Instead they parked their cars and trucks ON the boulevard. The Police Clearly POSTED temporary NO PARKING SIGNS along Front Street, but those were largley ignored.

   The Mayor, giving him the respect he is due, was not there to watch the fireworks , but was there to evaluate the situation and I have to applaud his efforts. He needed to see first hand what has to be addressed next year. You suggest we grab some cones and rope off our property?
   We have sidewalks! The sidewalks are for foot traffic! There is no reason to walk on our lawns nor should we have to rope off anything!

   You state also, that if the police in the area had to ” disberse ” ( disperse ) a few folks in the area.. you are sure they would have done it esle where in the City. Let me ask you this? Do you think the Police are baby sitters? Do you not think they have more important things to do than to have to respond to folks shooting off fire works in the middle of Liberty Street and actually hitting peoples homes? I for one have the utmost respect for our police department and they responded to those calls within 3 to 5 minutes, but considering it was a holiday weekend I am sure they were needed elsewhere. Nuisance calls should not haveto take priority. The Police Department is short handed enough with out having to attend to folks who don’t know how to behave in public.

   One day a year, and more than that one day, we welcome folks to come and view The Brig Niagra as she sets sail across Lake Erie. If you haven’t seen the sail boats on their nightly floats across the water, it is surely something beautiful that the residents of Erie should feel welcomed to enjoy. If you don’ t want to go directly down to Liberty Park to hear the music from 8 Great Tuesdays, you can simply park your car and bring a lawn chair and listen from the tops of the bluff. This is PUBLIC property after all, maintained by the Port Authority , but still the access is there.

   Again, sadly it’s attitudes such as yours that provoke disrespectul behaviours and ruin these events for everyone and suddenly when the Free events the City Sponsors become non existent, folks blame the City.

   If anyone ” sinks ” the ” barge ” it will be those with your attitude.

3. Danny Lucas
   July 9th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

   You give new meaning to “Boom on the Bay”, Daria
   .

   BOOM!

   You dispersed a boom and paid for it by disbursing a boom check.

   And YOU met the Mayor!

   I once shook hands with a cardboard version of Bill Clinton.
   I thought Erie had a cardboard version of Mayor somewhere in town.
   I never see the guy. But, I don’t wanna make a BOOM outta this so I believe you, that the Mayor you saw was a real mayor and not cardboard.

   Say, have I ever told you that you may dangle participles but you carry some of the best paragraphs around I ever saw!

   On a serious note, Mr. Brugger comes as a surprise to me.
   Yes, it is true he lives on Wolf Run Estates out there under all that jet fuel being dumped from above as jets come into Erie and take off leaking from the skies.

   And, to the south of those 1/2 million dollar homes and up, is a trailer court, oops, not politically correct there, I mean, a mobile home pavillion. I think this should tell you the level of thinking, to be a person who buys property there.

   Anyway, the cops have been waiting for an arborist to disburse a figure of value of these trees. Why charge a known tree killer until you can up the ante by making if a felony tree offense versus the common variety misdeameanor tree offense? It must be at least $7,500 so bids dispersed to get a higher threshold value to disburse.

   I was afraid Brad Foulk would charge early and the District Magistrate file a misdeameanor. Then, Brad would have to refile and get a NEW District Magistrate to find a felony offense.

   Speaking of offense, Burton Funeral home took care of mom.
   The young gal there called all ten of my brothers and sisters into a side room. She proceeded to read the bill. I asked her to stop right there and go get 10 copies and hand them out to us, as at least 4 of us no longer hear.

   She smiled her best blond smile and said she would.
   She then commenced anew at reading bills for things we knew not and did not hear. She said that she would give a bill AFTER we were done talking. She did not give the requested bill so that we could talk line by line.
   She did not give a bill at the end of the night and say, “you agreed to this”.
   In fact, mom has been underground since May 29, 2008 and I have yet to see a bill. Nor have my brothers and sisters.

   Apparently, one sibling was cornered and paid the bill and placed it in the estate for everyone to chip in. As I understand it, she was told to pay that night or else the show can’t go on.

   So the rest of us now chip in to pay a bill none of us saw. Hmmmm.

   Here is the irony.

   While Brad is trying to boost the arborist value to $7,500 a tree felony threshold (make that $15,000 felony for two trees killed), my sister paid the bill for mom’s funeral. It was $16,999.00. The estate owes her back.

   I wrote in What If? about taking my mom last fall to the foot of Liberty Street and the walkway there and taking pictures of the unique chain links. We saw those Brugger trees.

   I never dreamed mom would be paying for them.

   Even the attorney said to my other sister
   “WOW, that was some expensive funeral for your mom!!!!!”
   Amazingly, a tiny bubble appeared over his head just like in the comics and words appeared above the attorney. The bubble caption over his head said “Jeez, this is going to cut into my take out of this family big time, dammit”.
   I will certainly have more eyeopeners for this audience on the swell attorney.

4. Daria
   July 9th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

   Say, have I ever told you that you may dangle participles but you carry some of the best paragraphs around I ever saw!

   lololol Danny ! I did indeed laugh out loud ! You never fail to bring me to laughter or tears!

   However, the rest of your story is sad since we had such wonderful communication with David Schmidt when my own Mother passed away.
   He had to contend with all of her 5 children plus their spouses, and when together we are intolerable, because we have a very strange habit of finding humor in any situation. Most of us can’t hear only because we talk too much! ( I of course am the worst offender ) and our giggles during the planning had to practically send him over the edge!

   Now back to the issue of what Paul Brugger should pay… he has paid the price if my opinion of him counted at all. It probably doesn’t but I had enjoyed talking to him so many times at his condos and at neighborhood watch meetings in the past…I am truly disappointed.

   There was a saying I read once that I can’t quote perfectly but it said something like.. You can tell a mans character by what he does when he thinks no one is looking. I’d say he just got caught with his pants down.

5. Danny Lucas
   July 9th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

   Lyle Cook ran the show for Burton at 8th and Powell years ago. He did the Father’s Day weekend for my dad’s funeral in 1984 and he was superb!
   Cookie has a delightful sense of humor that I find common to nurses and folks at Geriatric centers and Undertakers. He made me laugh.

   My sister, Naive, (fake name) used to work for Harrington Industrial Laundry. I guess it takes a College degree in Communications to measure the inseam of big guys at GE and other manufacturers to get the uniforms right. She blushed, but apparently communicated.

   But Cookie was in a class of his own.
   Over at the funeral homes, they need shrouds galore. You can’t touch these things anymore since the days of AIDS started. Bodily fluids and blood are largely confined. But shrouds need cleaned and washed and that is industrial laundry. They are bagged and the whole bag tossed in; it disintegrates in the wash process. No one touches those shrouds.

   Naive had to pick up old shrouds and deliver some new ones at Burton.
   She had never seem a crematorium where “ashes to ashes and dust to dust” becomes true fast.
   Cookie led her over and showed her the portal window. He made comments that put Comedy Central to shame, in a staccatto fashion. He asked my sister if she was aware of how they could tell people being cooked were done?
   She shrieked.
   He said they stick a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, they are done.
   
   Now, I know more attorney jokes than a person should legally be allowed to know. but my supply of undertaker humor is low. I split a gut at Cookie every time, and he is doing marvelous work for the county as Coroner.

   It was Burton’s loss.
   I handled dad’s funeral with Cookie from beginning to end.
   They were straight shooters back then and no baloney. I tell you, no one has performed as well at a funeral as Lyle Cook did with my dad.

   But the place is in a new location. 8th and Powell closed and they moved up to 26th and Powell by the headstones.
   These are a different breed of folks running the show now.

   You are reflecting on the character of the retired Mr. Brugger.
   The trees will be replaced. A reputation will not.

   The people running Burton’s now are in the process of making or breaking their reputation too. I may be deaf, but I think I hear ice cracking when I go over there. The thin ice of a reputation is easily cracked anew. I, too, was truly disappointed.
   $16,999 to die.

6. grace smith
   June 29th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   where is the tea party for erie, pa. on the 4th of July 2009