Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Staff Review by Patricia Covley:
Don't confuse the books in this series with the TNT television show.  The books are much darker and the characters are better developed.  In The Silent Girl, Rizzoli and Isles are called to a crime scene in Boston's Chinatown when a young boy discovers a severed hand.  Jane Rizzoli, her partner Barry Frost and medical examiner Maura Isles are called to the scene.  A woman's body matching the hand is discovered on a nearby rooftop, decapacitated.

Buffalo loves its animals. Did you know that by 2014 Erie County will have adopted a no-kill system? Second Chance Sheltering Network, Inc. is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit animal rescue group serving the Western New York area.  Their goal is to help place homeless animals while simultaneously helping interested individuals find a new furry companion.  Every Sunday, we run a homeless pet spotlight to help these animals find a good home with a loving family. Please consider

I'm a big fan of the four seasons. That's one of the reasons that I've been on a winter festival kick over the last couple of years. If you're going to live in a city where it snows, you better be able to get outdoors in order to enjoy the elements. At the same time, there's something to be said for indoor recreational activities during the winter months, and that is one of the amenities that Buffalo (the city) is lacking. I'm talking about an urban indoor recreational center where you can play soccer, hit golfballs, run on a track, etc. On the outskirts of the city there are a few indoor athletics

Does this building facade look familiar? Kinda looks like the Christmas eve facade makeover that recently occurred at 500 Elmwood, doesn't it? The new storefront seen here is located next to the Showplace Theater on Grant Street. You can see an eerily familiar trend, as the old inset entranceway, transom windows and twin fronts was replaced with what looks to be an off-the-shelf, store bought, do-it-yourself system. I had hoped that the Elmwood 'pop-up storefront' was going to be a unique scenario - little did I

After visiting cities and doing some research on them, I like to come back and write a "master narrative" survey of my impressions of a place. I've been able to do this fairly successfully - at least natives have viewed my take as basically fair - and pretty easily for Midwest cities.

I've spent some time in Providence, Rhode Island recently, a small city reasonably comparable to the ones I focus on in the Midwest, and was hoping to do something similar there. But I've found it difficult. New England culture is something I just don't grok, so

By Carl Francis Penders:
"I've been going to Buffalo for four or five years.  It's an amazing place," Roberta Lane of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Boston office told the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance's not so sure Maggie Stier.  So Maggie, who I encountered on the Roycroft Campus, came to see for herself, and like Roberta, left a believer.  Even our weather enthused Shelly King-Davis of Yosemite, California, saying while exiting Shea's (Performing Arts Center) after the Trust's opening plenary, "You've got these amazing

By J Garrett Vorreuter:
Did you ever want to be a movie star? Or a television personality? Well what are you waiting for? Join us this Saturday, January 28th from 12pm - 6pm at DBGB's (253 Allen Street) when the organizers behind the Film Video Collective (www.thefvc.com) and the Buffalo 48 Hour Film Project, host The FVC's 3rd Annual Open Audition Winter Casting Call Event, where many of the region's most active filmmakers, producers and commercial production companies will be there in attendance. 
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It's what we like about Buffalo. I'm referring to hometown banks like M&T that have withstood the financial crisis, coming out relatively unscathed and ready to do business. That's one of the reasons that Forbes has profiled the bank - as Forbes staff writer puts it, "Buffalo may be miles away from New York City as a financial capital, but when it comes to putting money to work in the U.S. banking sector John Fox prefers the former to the

Advertising agency Crowley Webb has completed 25 straight hours of work for Twenty-Five Hour Workday contest winner, You and Who.
 
Crowley Webb created the contest to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2011. The aim was to give away a free marketing campaign to a worthy startup in Western New York. The agency received more than 40 entries, which they narrowed to three finalists who were charged with getting votes on Crowley Webb's

By Dave Majewski

Buffalo and WNY are witnessing perhaps unprecedented development projects that are in progress and certainly much more in the planning phases. We truly have the chance of a lifetime. The chance to show the region, nation and world how it can and should be done the right way.   That way is through smarter design and focusing on the Economic of the Environment, or E2.

We build big awe inspiring modern buildings and give them big flat rubber lined black heat absorbing EPDM roofs that collectively generate more urban heat for us - so all city dwellers

A $1.35 million Fillmore Avenue Streetscape Project is part of a strategic economic development plan, underway in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park neighborhood.  Work on improvements to a one mile stretch of Fillmore will start this spring.

"A strong and stable streetscape is important to the image of any neighborhood," said Mayor Brown, who also noted that City crews planned to demolish nine vacant buildings as part of the redevelopment, five of them on Thursday.  "By reinvigorating this community, we are setting the groundwork to attract new residents and new business owners,

This Sunday, three grassroots activist groups are hosting a potluck dinner geared towards getting your ideas on the table and then funded. What could be better, and more soothing, than sharing some good food and your urban aspirations with some neighbors? The way that this grassroots idea-gathering initiative works is this: Pay ten bucks to get in, or bring a dish to pass along and only pay five bucks. Then listen to the different ideas submitted and find out who gets to take home the cash. The winner must apply the funds to the idea that he or she submitted. Obviously we are

Have you noticed the complete transformation at the northeast corner of Elmwood and Allen? Steel's posts on St. Louis could not have come at a better time. The windows on this corner are, once again, alive with activity and come spring a longtime dead patio will reawaken with the sounds of conversation and, God-willing, low-key live music (please no anti-urban crusades). The interior of Cantina Loco looks just as amazing, with Edison

By Giovanni Centurione: Add this to the list of exciting things to come in downtown - 'The Shop's at Buffalo Commons'. Located on the 500 block of Main Street (523 Main St.) this particular building has been posted on BR not too long ago for a similar project (Cornucopia). After reworking some of the occupancy formulas, the spaces are available again and this time, I believe everyone is about ready to see retail return to Main Street. Buffalo Commons is

This is a follow up to my tour of the St. Louis Central West End neighborhood.  St. Louis has another very active and fun commercial district called Delmar Loop that offers many lessons for Buffalo in its efforts to rebuild vibrancy. Before getting into this I want to clarify something.  I am not holding St. Louis up as a city with its act together or a city with no issues, no problems.  Quite the contrary.  St. Louis has all the problems that Buffalo has but is amplified

By Dave Majewski

In Western New York we are undergoing an amazing transformation this very day. Canalside, Lafayette Hotel, Buffalo Public Schools renovations, Statler City, Medical Campus, Central Terminal, Fuhrman Blvd and the Outer Harbor, various infrastructure improvements, and many other "development" projects too numerous to list.

Are these good? Of course they are. They create pride, jobs, tax rolls, community enhancement, tourism, enjoyment, and so on. Perhaps even more potentially exciting is the recent notice from Albany regarding $1 billion in incentives should

Fashion Maniac: Keeping tabs on Buffalo's fashion industry, including models, catwalks, retailers, designers, stylists, visual merchandisers and jewelers. 
WELCOME TO AMERICA - Fashion in Colonial Times 
Article by Phillip Johnson | Photos by Cheryl Gorski
Immigrants to the Colonies, as the United States were know as then, may have fled religious persecution among other reasons but they didn't change the way

Meeting highlights include: shift Erie Community College's ("ECC") proposal for a Health Sciences Center for Excellence to its City Campus, regulate mobile food vehicle vendors, reconstruction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Humboldt Basin Splash Pad, design, inspection and construction of the 500 block of Main Street, improvements to the Martin Luther King ("MLK"), Jr. Park Humboldt Basin, Riverside Park, and Delaware Park's Parkside Lodge and a grant for improvements to the MLK, Jr. Park Basin Stairs.
The Council adopted a resolution

By Matt Hartrich (Buffalo Niagara Partnership):  
The Buffalo Niagara Partnership recently released its Buffalo Building Reuse Project (BBRP) report, outlining recommendations to address the 2 million square feet of underutilized commercial office space in downtown Buffalo.  The study, which seeks to improve downtown Buffalo's ability to compete for private investment, was completed at the request of Mayor Byron Brown.  The yearlong initiative involved the collaboration of 35 experienced business leaders, economic development experts, and real

By Jessica Edwards:
If you passed a small yellow school bus with a license plate that read "onthesly", which was filled with a group from Ghana, and driven by a stocky bearded hippie-like fellow named Griffin...would you guess they'd be coming home to Buffalo?
Over 10,000 miles, were put on that bus bought off of eBay to bring the music of the "Sly Drumming Ensemble" to colleges, schools, and festivals all over the U.S. This was all done by the most basic grassroots effort. Griffin Brady (founder of Slyboots School of Music) and