My wife is a recovering theme basket addict. When we were dating, we would go to 1-2 theme basket raffles each week. I noticed that while my wife has a slight obsession, so did a lot of other people. Many of theses people were considered "regulars" and we had nicknames for many of them.

What brings these people out to these auctions?

1. The money collected USUALLY goes to a good cause

2. It is a cheap day/evening out. $admission is usually about $2 and tickets are about $3 for 25. Your admission also includes a drink and a snack.

3. Cheap food is usually available such as $1 pizza or hotdogs and $3 roast beef sandwiches.

4. People like to win stuff, even stuff they have NO use for

5. People like to gamble

So if you need to raise money for a good cause, consider having a Theme Basket Raffle. Local businesses are usually eager to contribute just to get their name out to the public. Just have a lot of people to help since there is a fair amount of organizational work involved.

WNY APA will be auctioning off several theme baskets at the Awards Dinner on July 10 at Chef's. ALL proceeds will go to the Michael J. Krasner Scholarship Fund. Tickets are $5 each or 3/$10. Bring cash!

12:36 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

June 02

Where are you?

The latest numbers from the Upstate NY Chapter say that we have almost 250 members in the WNY Section. Of those 250 members, 61 are AICP certified.

Where are they?

If you are one of our active members, you know that we draw about 30 people to our dinner programs. Our annual awards dinner draws about double that. This leave roughly 190 members who are inactive meaning they do not come to section events. Why? Why would you pay money to be in a professional organization and not participate in any of the events? This baffles me and everyone in the Executive Committee. No matter what we do or try, the same 30 people show up to every event.

Even more baffling is that we only get 1/3 of the AICP's to show up to out Web Conferences. Do these 2/3 realize that the MUST complete CM requirements to maintain their certification? Do they know that these web conferences are FREE and that if they attended all 3 that are offered each year, they would have earned 9 CM credits in the 2 year accrual period?

In addition, we have been working hard to get our dinner program speakers approved for CM credits. However, dinner attendance has hardly increased.

We are always looking for suggestions on how to reinvigorate these "lost souls" If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment here on the blog.

7:27 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

May 27

License to park anywhere?

Over the last few months, something has been irritating me on my way to my bus.

Panhandlers? Yes, but that is a discussion best left for another day...

The real thing that has been getting under my skin is The New York State Assembly. OK, not the entire Assembly, but a select few who park illegally in front of my bus stop on Niagara Square EVERY DAY. Since when did "No Parking" turn into, "No Parking Unless You Have One of those Little 'NY State Assembly' Cards on your Dashboard"?

One day a few weeks ago, these inconsiderate jerks were parked bumper to bumper in front of my bus shelter. There was about two feet between the cars and I suddenly thought about what a disabled person would do if they needed to board a bus from this stop. Sure enough, a blind man with a cane came to the stop. I informed him of the situation and he thanked me. When the bus came, I tried to direct him between the parked cars as best as I could and he got on the bus. I think I was more upset than him. He must see this type of behavior all the time. If it was me, I would probably have been a little "over enthusiastic" with my cane as I navigated through the illegally parked cars.

What if a person in a wheelchair needed to get to a bus? The busses need to be close to a curb to kneel down and allow wheelchairs to board. And non-disabled people are impacted as well since it is difficult for bus drivers to see if there is anyone in the shelter when it is blocked by cars. On several occasions I have had to wave my arms and scream like a maniac to get the drivers attention or else I would have been left behind.

Why are these inconsiderate dolts allowed to park here? Why does the City let them get away with it? A lot of people drive into downtown to conduct "official business", but they must pay to park in LEGAL spots.

I did put in a complaint to NFTA. Whether they can do anything about it is doubtful. However, I will keep you updated.

RG