A Nov. 4 article said my critics found me "preoccupied with garnering
publicity."
    The statement is 100 percent true, but it needs further clarification. I am
seeking publicity not for myself, but for certain social issues. I am a
media hound for the causes I believe in.
    What are they? To increase green space; to preserve forests, to clean our
creeks and rivers, to stop pouring filth into the air and water, to bring
wealth back to the people through universal home ownership, to bring our
neighborhoods back to peace, to end racism in this generation.
    My projects to date: creating green space near a Hamburg development;
establishing a wildlife sanctuary along Tonawanda Creek; opening up for
public access Buttermilk Falls along 18 Mile Creek; paying welfare
recipients to pick up litter in their neighborhoods; creating a program for
indigent people to sell newsletters; buying inner-city slum houses, fixing
them up and selling them to owner-occupants; and establishing a standard
for buying housing subdivisions, reconfiguring them for fewer housing units
and creating a permanent forest preserve with the land that was saved.
    Some of my projects have not been successful. I established a "Save the
Trees hot line" last year, seeking public donations to help towns acquire
green space. It failed to raise much money. It didn't get enough publicity.
    Currently, I am seeking publicity to try to increase the level of
owner-occupancy in the inner city.
    There is much to be done, and the conditions in the inner city are
sometimes so sad that there aren't enough tears to shed for all the sorrow.
    On the other hand, there has never been a greater opportunity for home
ownership.
    Slumlords are on the run; it's a buyers market. Banks are required to make
loans in the inner city, and interest rates are the lowest they've been in
20 years. Yet there is little movement in the market.
    In a city where only 41 percent of the people own their own homes, it seems
that few know the good news.
    There are thousands of tenants who would qualify to own if they knew what
to do. But how do we get the message out?
    Publicity.
    So, yes, I did seek publicity for this and for all my causes. And I will
continue to do so and to encourage others to take up the cause and do a
better job than I.