All are invited to the historic St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr Church on Sunday, May 18th at 4:00 p.m. to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the celebration of his birthday.
This Fourth Annual Service in honor of Pope John Paul II will include the “Living Rosary,” as well as a prayer for the beatification of Pope John Paul the Great. As individuals enter the church, each will be presented with a complimentary rosary to commemorate the event. The rosaries will be blessed within the context of the Service.
I’m not impressed by a Gold Statue. A man should be remembered by his spiritual guidance and dedication, that would shine greater than any object.
A more reasonable church restoration could have been done, with a greater focus on evangelism in the area and keeping the school open.
Right in Front of the church is one of the largest drug dealing gangs in Buffalo. The Townsend drug family is located about 300 feet South of Peckham in between William. They’ve done an estimated 300 to 400 hundred thousand drug deals in the last 20 years, working to destroy that whole neighborhood. The 100 – 150 deals a day continue. The biggest irony to me is that, St Stans Church is one of the richest churches in Buffalo, through its millions in donations, and vast cemetery revenues. I feel all the money taken in has gone more to build a cemetery for dead people, rather than evangelize people from the effects of drug addiction that occurs right in front.
St Stans should support a drug free area, not everyone should end up in their cemetery.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed two women speaking to each other in the rear of 48 Wilson St. An Abandoned former drug house. I believe both women are drug addicts, the older blond hair women appeared to be directing the younger brunette. So as one walked away, the brunette ducked inside the rear shed of this yellow house to smoke. I could see this through a lot at 51 Townsend, another house run into the land fill by drug dealing. So I went to go talk to this girl, she was worried she would be arrested, but told me she was smoking and wasn’t happy with her life. Both these women are someone’s daughter and granddaughters. I often wonder how many of these drug addicts are relatives of the Polish immigrants who built the neighborhood. Now in their journey to buy drugs, they have worked to destroy the neighborhood.
The other day I was working on Townsend, and standing a little ways down were the drug dealers. I noticed Bishop Grosz drive by, it seemed like as fast as he could. I’d estimate between 35 – 38 mph. One of the dealers standing by had just lost his brother the previous week, shot dead at 30 years old, the 3rd related to this drug family in less than a year. Although this 21 year old younger brother had threaten me many times in my push to clean up the neighborhood, out of respect he invited me to the funeral which I went to. Kind of weird being at Forest Lawn Cemetery, watching another family friend take a sip of his Budweiser beer in the early afternoon near the casket. Addiction to drugs is one of the most destructive forces of families and neighborhoods.
The level of spending at St Stans in the last 4 years, I would estimate is between 10 – 15 million. I think excessive, then they close the school. What to help pay for the contractors 6000 sq ft mini mansion in Clarence, and his several trips a year to Las Vegas? Helping give the church a Vegas look, when they close so many other churches?
Because I have struggled for 15 years with the same Townsend drug family, the one that killed someone I tried to help (who lived at 51 Townsend), and in 2002 had sent a shooter after me for 7 months till it was called off, I do not like that the only person the developer had hired from the neighborhood was a member of this drug family. Now named as a project manager for these new homes. Despite telling the contractor he had smoked crack the first day they met, he does not believe in drug testing his workers because it would be “insulting to them”. So while this drug family has done several million dollars in drug deals, they have one of their close members involved in the planning of who will buy these new houses.
There has never been any effective push by the police to remove this drug family because of these mid level dealers working closely with the paid off cops, they maintain their position. I made a call to Buffalo police a few years back and the dealer got the cell phone call on the street about 15 minutes later. Another call I made to the FBI at 8 pm one evening, the dealers got that call about 2 hours later on the street. When I noticed this, and pressed for an answer who made that call, the smiling response back was “We’ve got friends in the industry”. Noticing calls like this does not happen very often, like twice in 15 years, however I believe they happen on a regular basis. This explains why the FBI was video taping this street for a whole 1 ½ years in 1996 and 12 years later they are still dealing. I call this a Tax Payer scam, in relation to the war on drugs. Any sincere push from the church, I believe they are being played. The police may say we’ve arrested 18 people, but nothing effective. Then you have the Bishop telling me in acceptance, “Drugs are everywhere”. (this level of drug sales is not everywhere)
The city said this week they are putting up 63 cameras around Buffalo. I believe at least 4 have gone up along Broadway. They need at least 4 around St Stans, for the two drug families operating on Townsend and Wilson, both sections between Peckham and William. So just like the dealers cover their positions for 24 hours, there needs to be the same level of police presence to break the traffic pattern. Having a police car drive by in 10 seconds, and making a few undercover buys doesn’t work. I had a dealer tell me a few weeks ago, “Their talking about giving me 7 – 10”. I thought about it for a moment and said, 7 – 10 days? He said yes, and laughed.
I feel more parish members need to be involved as to what exactly is going on with the church and the development plans. I believe that the millions the church has taken in all these years, they could have kept the school open and given a free education to its students in these difficult years. Not Gold Plated Statues. In Buffalo, according to one school board member about the public schools, the high school drop out rate is 53 – 55 percent. Where are the priorities, education or statues?
Please support drug testing of people on public assistance. A primary STOP POLICE CORRUPTION issue.
Ron Mondry spc
OMG, I stopped after second paragraph, there is no need to belittle the good parishioners of St. Stans, they do a lot for the community.
I have stopped and talked to Mchughe the devloper numerous times and he seems like a great guy.
Well if you stopped reading after the second paragraph, how can I expect you to keep your eyes open to acknowledge what is really happening in the neighborhood ?
I think it is wrong of you to then make the interpretation that my post is about the parishioners, it’s not. It’s about the leadership, the spending level, how they are actually supporting the drug family in front of the church, and how you have a police force not doing an effective job. That the parishioners should be more involved as to what is going on.
OMG, well Oh my God is right, to anyone who would drive around a mile radius of the Broadway Fillmore intersection. To look at the massive destruction that has been caused in the last 20 years. It is my belief that over 100 million dollars has been spent for the use of drugs, and an equal amount on incarceration costs, housing demolitions, rehab work which is then land filled, and many other costs, due to what I estimate is at least 1 million drug deals in that 1 mile radius, in the last 20 years. As I wrote, an estimated 300 to 400 hundred thousand drug deals just on Townsend. Plus thousands of crimes to support all of this.
As far as the developer, things aren’t always as they seem, you need to spend more time understanding what is really going on. His quote in Buffalo Rising Online, “Crime is gone, there is nothing more to steal” is a bunch of nonsense. Simply optimistic lying. He hires a member of the drug family that has worked to destroy every single house in the neighborhood, then involves them in the planning to rebuild the neighborhood ??. This drug family has no intention of going anywhere, they now control what I estimate is a 500 – 1000 customer base. There is enough softness with the older homes for them to hop around, because so many parishioners have been chased out. Just look at 96 Detroit, another foreclosure. Building new houses with no basements and other cheap features to save money, I believe may benefit the drug dealers. Since I believe there is an effort to get some of their extended family members to buy these houses. I don’t see a model that would be passed on from generation to generation, or which would have a good resale value.
What evangelism do you have from the church?, building new houses when there are already 5000 – 10000 vacant ones ? To give a hand up to the poor is noble, but I do not believe the church understands how the poor has become parasitic because of the massive addiction to drugs, and you are actually over taxing a middle class to pay for this, in essence driving them poor or forcing them to leave the state. Actually breaking up families.
A few weeks ago the drug dealer I mentioned, made a comment about one of the cars of his fellow drug dealers. Pointing to the rims, his remarks were, “Isn’t that sweet“. My response was, it isn’t Ok to live off the pain of other people. He would lose his brother shortly later.
spc
The article in Buffalo Rising:
http://buffalorising.com/story/planting_seeds_on_the_east_sid#sca
The statue cost about $3,000.00 It is fiberglass made to look like cast bronze.
The church was not “restored” as McHugh and Grosz keep stating. It was reconfigured and redecorated.
To be honest, it lost it’s historicity in the reconfigurement. It is no longer authentic.
This entire thing is a shame.
Mr. Mondry,
What is your answer then?
I’ve been told that you were against the project from day one. Why was that? Maybe because you stand to lose out if the neighborhood improves.
How about the houses you own? I am sure your intent in the shoddy way you do repairs and fix ups is so that people can pass your homes on from one genreration to the next.
Corpus Christi just received a large grant to help fix the church. Should they not fix and simply give the money to the poor in the neighborhood?
Are you the standard setter for what churches should or shouldn’t do?
Should the churches just crumble? I guess you would be complaining about that if they were.
Stan,
Define authentic?
Should the churches in the neighborhood not try to ensure their complexes for the future?
I know that Stans did not renovate their church to look like it did a 100 years ago. But for the most part the church is still the same.
Take Corpus Christi. The church is a lot different than it was too, bit does it change its history? What is new today will one day be old.
So Ron I suppose that the conversion of 937 Broadway to 43 apartments will also be filled with druggies these apartments are being built for familys, Is this another greedy developer?