Buffalo Rising Online

Oh man, i would love to see something happen with the Lake Hotel!!!

While the Statler Hotel may be an eminent building, its sale is (hopefully) imminent.

(Thank you Aaron! I should have said the prominent building could soon be sold. WCP)

It is not surprising that the two projects cited for lack of progress are both initiatives of David Knoll. I venture to guess that his check cashing/strip club project on the East Side is just too demanding on his time and pocketbook to afford progress on the two historic structures he is allowing to waste away on the West Side. Well, I guess it is not a complete loss, the Corn Exchange, an empty 5 story historic office building in spitting distance of City Hall has become a beacon for Byron Brown support.

WCP - do you know what the status/progress is for the Shoreline Apts? It looks like an interesting (and large) project and I was curious what the exterior renovations would look like. ... but haven't heard much else about it since it was announced.

I saw the rendering for the Shoreline Apartments and they look good, but we, at the West Village, are waiting for an update on the actual conversion. These apartments are ripe with crime and other detrimental elements that negatively affect this area. Hopefully, the process will start sooner than later. And, if it doesn't, we are going to keep it on our radar screen wih a 24/7 watchman.

And don't forget the $22-million renovation project going on at Hutch Tech High School, in the heart of the West Village.

Also, the new Chocolate Bar should be opening in the Hampton Inn within the month (I think). That's not even a block away from the West Village.

And the Health Now (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) Headquarters are an easy walk away. It may be a stretch to call this the West Village area, but the 1200 employees, or however many there are, are sure to have an impact on the neighborhood.

I just wish there was more of an outcry to extend light rail to the airport.

I just find it hard to understand how we can have passed 5 million travelers a year at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and approaching 6 million soon....yet we are still refusing to give them a cheap and easy route to downtown Buffalo.

I just dont think that the full potential of Buffalo's eastside will be reallized until we have a light rail extension for our eastside! (not to mention what the millions of dollars would do for our local economy)

Why aren't all these things making headlines in the print media? All they ever report is parking tickets and prank 911 calls. No wonder people have a negative view of our city. Spread the word. If you want to know what's really happening in Buffalo, ditch your subscription to the paper and start checking out BRO...

don't forget all the great work ongoing in the kleinhans music hall area and on symphony circle...

Pauladub, I couldn't agree more. That's why our association is hell-bent on marketing this area. We have the most historic, continually resided in area in the city and the number of people, even an executive director from a preservation organization, that do not know what it is is incredulous!

The BRO crew is fantastic! I'm tired of hearing the same negatives on the news and in the News. Thanks, BRO!

L: Studies have been done and only a very very small percentage of those passing through our airport need or want to head downtown. The figure i saw was around 7%. which would work out to only around 900 per day passed upon last years total traffic of 4,868,000.

Seems like a better extension would be to complete the line to UB North as originally designed or perhaps even a line from UB North to the airport. Plus their are more airport inWith all of the residential in that area it would be a natural. Plus if you routed it through the Eastern Hills and Walden Galleria malls you could serve an area with a population much larger than what exists in the City of Buffalo.

Sally --

Your points may be valid but your facts are false. Even with all the vacant buildings and whatnot, Buffalo has almost 300,000 people. Amherst, the most populous suburb, with many many more square miles, has about 120,000. I think Cheektowaga runs about 90,000 but it could be a bit more. You'd have to run many more miles of track through the suburbs to serve the same number of people.

Which is not to say that light rail to the suburbs is a bad idea. But there are still more people in Buffalo than any other one place, and way, way more people per square mile in Buffalo.

Dennis, Sally and Jessica, Your missing the point entirely and secondly I dont believe the numbers.

Airport 5+ million Bass Pro, 3-4 million Buffalo Casino, 3-4 million Central Terminal Galleria ECC dont forget about the people who would use an airport light rail extension just to save on parking at the airport or parking downtown!

the convention center, government and banking districts, as well as, UB Canisius and Medaille would all be connected.

Dont forget that people who wont ride buses...DO RIDE LIGHT RAIL! Why, free parking...security...and protection from cold, rain, snow, wind and heat.

Please dont insult the intelligence of Buffalonians by implying that only 900 people would ride a light rail extension to the airport. The existing light rail ridership is experiencing record usage with the parking ticket onslaught and with $2.50 gasoline.

A light rail extension would bring the redevelopment of Main Street to the cities eastside and frankly the eastside deserves it and Im ashamed that the people of this city continually ignore the needs of its citizens on the east and south! Continually and constantly! I grew up on the westside so I have roots there but I have relatives on the eastside and southside. I know first hand that our city needs all of its communities to be healthy!

This really is one of my biggest disappoinments in Buffalo. Despite a declining population we have manage to build ourselves into traffic hell in some places. I work in Amherst by ECC, they built a bunch of houses and offices out there and have not upgraded the infastruction. On Main St. as well as wherle there are countless side streets coming in with nothing more than a stop sign. These roads are practically un-navigable in the early hours, lunch time, and after work. Not to mention it is unbelievable dangerous.

I think instead of trying to build our way out of messes like this with more roads, which invite more traffic. I think some light rail stations out this way could really do some good. I know several employees at my office including myself that live in the city but have to drive out there.

The could start by using some of the funds they are wasting on studying how to bring traffic on to main st. and start building out further.

Craig, call the GBNRTC and the NFTA and your elected officials.

Tell them what you endorse and tell them to do their jobs!

Wow, what time and/or day was this picture taken? Only see 1 car on the road, and this is progress for more life in this area?