thursday june 26th 2008
Roundup Needed at Public Safety Center
West Coast Perspective
The Erie County Public Safety Center opened in mid-2006, but the landscaping looks a bit incomplete. The striking, five-story, $33 million facility located at the intersection of South Division and Elm Streets at the entrance to downtown is in need of some groundskeeping. Workers inside may be hard at work weeding out the bad guys, but there is little weeding happening on the exterior. The south side of the building has no landscaping at all. Driving 55 MPH along Elm, one might mistake the lush green weed strip as grass. Perhaps that is the low-cost plan.
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wednesday june 25th 2008
Buffalo River Boat Tip
queenseyes
While visiting The Swannie House earlier this evening we were told to take a walk across the street to check out the new public access dock. We had been down this path before a couple weeks earlier after hearing that some plans were finally being realized – plans that would give boaters the ability to tie up and take advantage of Cobblestone amenities. The people behind this public access effort will probably never be recognized for their effort, and if you talked to any one of them they would tell you that that is the way they like it. The project is not being done for any recognition… rather it is a task that they feel is necessary, and if it means rolling up a few sleeves, then so be it.
Of course all of the proper permitting measures were acquired so as to adhere to safety measures. And now there is a fun…
West Coast Perspective
Hundreds of people have moved into downtown Buffalo in recent years trading cars for bikes and walking instead of commuting.
Organizers of Buffalo Homecoming are keying up to let you experience the housing surge first-hand. On June 28th the third annual Downtown Housing Tour will showcase some of the attractive and spacious lofts, luxury condominiums, homes and apartments that are available in downtown Buffalo. The event, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., is free and open to the public.
The tour is meant to expose participants to the changing face of downtown.
Elena Cala Buscarino
RealtyTrac Inc., an online marketplace for foreclosured properties hasn't accounted for lis pendens in the past, skewing actual foreclosure data according to Western New York Law Center's (WNYLC) attorney and coordinator of Buffalo's Anti-flipping Task Force Kathleen Lynch.
The Law Center's Geographic Systems Analyst Joy McDuffie, also part of Mayor Brown's anti-flipping task force, agrees saying it makes the situation look less dire than it is. Lynch and McDuffie believe that by not including these properties that are in danger of foreclosure, we may be less eligible for government aid for the entire region.
As a result, WNYLC is conducting its own search with the help of AmeriCorps Vista (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteers. …
Eli George
If you’ve noticed the lack of Queenseyes’ posts today, that’s because Newell is out working diligently on keeping the parking meters in place to transform them to bike racks. If you read his article from yesterday, you know this is a pretty important issue to many business owners across the city.
Besides being a great way to reuse the meters, it’s also a great way to promote green and city life styles. Newell told me that if four businesses banded together, they would only have to spend around $25 a piece to get a bike rack. If a whole block of businesses, say around 20 total, banded together, they could outfit their whole block with bike racks.
That’s some pretty awesome stuff, but it comes with challenges. Namely, that the meters are being removed every single day as scheduled without an end …
Eli George
Buffalo is well known for having a lively theater scene and has plenty of local actors who become hometown favorites. However, it can be difficult to emerge onto the acting scene in a national-sense and training is usually needed. Enter Greg Natale. Natale has been a theater professional for the last 25 years. You may have even seen at To Kill A Mockingbird at Studio Arena when he played Bob Ewell.
Natale will be holding a summer training session in the Meisner Technique. His Acting Studio is not only based on Natale’s experience as a theater professional, but also his experience with the Meisner technique. He was an instructor for two years in Los Angeles and he studied the technique for three years in NYC.
For those who don’t know, there are different methods of acting. To briefly sum up the Meisner technique, it teaches an actor to improvise in response to what …
Eli George
The 10th Anniversary Erie Canal Bike Tour kicks off from Buffalo and runs from July 6 through the 13 as around five hundred cyclists bike the 400-mile canal route. Organized by Parks & Trails New York, cyclists start arriving on Saturday July 5th in droves. The Nichols School is the headquarters for the arriving cyclists, and with that many people, comes the need for volunteers.
People will be needed to help register, set-up tents and break them down, running cyclists to Campus Wheelworks to pick up their bikes, trips to historical sites around the city and Niagara Falls, a band to provide music, traffic control people, people to help with small bike repairs, and information booth volunteers.
It’s some work, but if you choose to help, you get access to the cheese and wine reception that afternoon, a free dinner on…
queenseyes
And I thought every day was Buffalo Civic Day. Actually, according to Kevin Gaughan that may be true, but Buffalo Rotary has asked if he would give a speech to mark a day (Wednesday July 9th) in which the citizens of Western New York come first. Kevin only has three more stops on his tour of Erie County's 25 towns, 16 villages and three cities. No one can recall anyone undertaking this type of reform tour before. He started in November in Lancaster when it was ten below, and here we are on this beautiful day in June. He has spoken to over 20,000 people during the course of this project regarding his ideas on how to reduce government and grow our community.
Kevin kept a journal of his journey and has decided that he is going to publish a small book based on those accounts. He feels that he understands the Western New York character - its past and present problems. "On Buffalo Ci…
tuesday june 24th 2008
Groundhog Day: Is This One Doomed Too?
STEEL
As the White's Livery building crisis fades into our societal memory, Buffalo moves forward (or should we say backward), and just like in the movie Groundhog Day prepares to live the same scenario of demolition by neglect, over and over again. The beautiful building pictured here is the former Fairfield Library. Will this one be the next loss?
The building was designed the late 1890's by architect and nearby resident William Sydney Wicks for the Unitarian Universalist Church. Many parishioners arrived for services via Belt Line Railroad which had a station within steps of the church (still standing). The Unitarian congregation disbanded in 1912 and sold it to Parkside Lutheran which used the building for 12 years, until they built a more grand church for themselves at Wallace and Depew in Central Park. In 1924, the City of Buffalo purchased the building for use a…
queenseyes
The rowboats and skiffs arrived at Hoyt Lake just minutes ago. It was great to see four of the eight boats show up. Even the 'Oar House' was getting painted - the docks were installed a couple of days ago. Thanks to the Olmsted Parks Conservancy for working in conjunction with the Buffalo State Boat Building Program (remember John Montague?). The delivery was made just days before the citywide Buffalo Homecoming celebration... the official ribbon cutting will be performed on Thursday when the program will be launched for public use.
Members of the Olmsted Conservancy can take the boats out whenever they want (membership is cheap too). For anyone who is not a member, a $10 payment gives you half an hour on Hoyt Lake. Heck, membership is only $30.…
