Recently I took a long weekend vacation to St. Louis with the family.  St. Louis is one of those places, like Buffalo, that is not thought of as place to go for a vacation.  It is thought of as one of America's 'down at the heals', 'no longer worthwhile' older cities. But, contrary to popular opinion St. Louis is actually a fascinating and often beautiful city.  I had been planning a few stories on St. Louis since last summer when we took this trip but had not gotten around to it.  
With the recent

By Michele Tucker:
Quick show of hands: how many of you have had an idea that you feel would help take Buffalo to the next level? We have, too - and we want your ideas! 
Buffalo always seems to be right on the cusp of a renaissance. We love this city, with its good neighbors, rich history, and beautiful architecture. Buffalo inspires us and captures our imaginations. And let's be honest: there is no shortage of ideas here. What seems to be lacking is action - the action needed to turn these ideas into reality. So let's

By Jason Zwara:
The deadlines set by State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. and Governor Andrew Cuomo for school districts to reach agreement with teacher and administrator unions on a new teacher evaluation system is quickly approaching, with a significant amount of state aid on the line. Commissioner King froze the $9 million in aid the State had awarded Buffalo Public Schools to improve five failing schools; Governor Cuomo raised the stakes, tying proposed increases in state aid to school districts to the success in reaching agreement on a new evaluation

Ellicott Development isn't wasting any time diving right into their latest residential conversion, 14 North Street. It was built as a Baptist Church in 1899 and retains much of its original architectural features, inside and out. The building will house eleven residential units, ranging from one to three bedrooms as well as a commercial space occupying about 1000 square feet.

Although Ellicott Development is not utilizing historic tax credits, the adaptive reuse of the church is

If you made it to Olmsted's Flurrious! festival this past Saturday, chances are that you saw some sights that you will never forget. For me, I thought that the quidditch brigade that led from Ring Road to the playing field was out of sight. The players were dressed in uniform colors, waving flags, chanting, parading, high-fiving and carrying on like nobody's business. By the time they reached the field, it looked like some sort of European village had been plunked down on top of a snowy meadow with rivals duking it out in a high intensity game of soccer or rugby. The only difference was that each

With work winding down on a major Niagara County project, Kissling Interests is hardly taking a breather.  Besides the planned apartments atop 298 Main Street, the company will be starting projects on W. Huron and also on North Street.

Renovation work on the former Remington Rand complex overlooking the Erie Canal in North Tonawanda is nearing completion.  Remington

By Rebecca Newberry - Program Coordinator Clean Air Coalition of WNY:
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) continually measures levels of pollutants in the air.  The Clean Air Coalition uses the data from these monitors to keep polluters in check, and ensure that emissions are kept within a legal range.The two DEC air monitors in Tonawanda are located in the Brookside Terrance neighborhood and right next to the 290 off of Grand Island Blvd.  The monitors run 24-hours

There was a time when The Garden Walk was all the buzz. Of course The Garden Walk is still the premiere horticultural event of the year, but now there is an even bigger, all-encompassing event that is designed to showcase a broader scope of Greater Buffalo flora. The National Garden Festival (NGF) is scheduled to take place from June 22 - July 29, 2012. Before that date arrives, there's plenty of preparation that needs to happen. One of the key events is scheduled to take place in conjunction with Valentine's Day (of course). Hearts in the Garden is a fundraiser that will take place

It was back in October when Vanessa Ron first introduced Clutter, the do-it-yourself market, to shoppers in Allentown. Since that time, the spirit of Clutter has grown, and Vanessa is now preparing for her third event, in which local artists-artisans-thrifters-etc. will set up shop for a day in order to showcase their arts, crafts, wares and finds in a fresh flea market style setting (see background). It was

Over the last couple of years, we've seen some great facade improvements (like this one) on Elmwood, and we've seen some tragic ones (like this one) as well. With every new facade advancement on the street, the Elmwood business district becomes stronger, attracting more shoppers and more entrepreneurs seeking to move onto the street. The Elmwood Village Association recently secured $500,000 in New York Main Street funding

After unsuccessfully searching near and far for office tenants for its vacant space at 298 Main Street, Kissling Interests is turning to a stronger market to fill the building- residential.  By the end of the year, the building's upper floors will boast downtown's newest, high-end apartments.

Kissling Interests, primarily a residential property developer, owner and manager, purchased the 11-story, multi-tenant office building in 2001 for $2.6 million.  Law firm Damon & Morey's move to Avant in 2009 left Kissling with seven floors of office

By Tracy A. Marciano, MS:
New terminology develops as modernity unfurls. In the 1970's we never could have imagined coffee would be labeled as gourmet, computers could be carried in pockets or people would become obsessed with bottled water when tap water in the United States far surpasses potability of most countries on the planet.
In the 1960's and 1970's ideas of environmental protection were beginning to surface thanks to a generation of hippies who saw the potential in societal change, even if the premise was based

By Joanna Gillespie:
PechaKucha Night Buffalo is an ongoing event series affording creative people of all disciplines an opportunity to share their current curiosities, past projects, or future aspirations.  Think "show and tell" for grown-ups, but "show and tell" in a uniquely concise format. What is unique about an evening of PechaKucha presentations is that each speaker is only allowed to speak for precisely 6 minutes and 40 seconds - that's 20 images each shown for 20 seconds.  This "20x20" presentation is fast-paced and compelling. No aimless

We are all familiar with the brew festivals that takes place during the warmer months, as summer is an especially great time to throw back some cold beers. But that means that beer-lovers are left out in the cold come winter. As far as I know, beer tasting events are not season specific... or shouldn't be, which means that it's due time that someone create a beer festival for the winter time. 
Coming up in February is one event that should prove to be well-attended, primarily due to its location at the Connecticut Street Armory, one of the best venues in

The weather is shaping up for the perfect winter festival, to be held tomorrow at The Parkside Lodge in Delaware Park. The 30' x80' heated Brews and Stews tent is up, and the hockey rink looks like it's a go (cross your fingers). Over 200 quidditch players will be arriving this evening to partake in the all-day tournament. Combined with over 165 kickball players, over 50 cyclists, an undetermined number of runners, softball players and snow 'beach' tennis contestants, Flurrious! is well on its way to becoming a fun-filled day... and night. The event starts off at 9am with the Fleet Feet fun run,

While standing in the basement of The Lafayette Church last evening, listening to Elmwood villagers battle it out over whether Acropolis was a nightclub or not, I came to a realization. Elmwood villagers are divided into two camps. The first camp lives in the Elmwood Village because they are either raising a family or are retired. These are the people who talk about issues such as lack of parking, loud music, drunk people, etc. The second camp is clearly a younger demographic who live in the 'village'

Young Citizens for ECC delivered a message today to Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "The ECC North Campus expansion happens over our dead bodies!"

The group is protesting Governor's proposed $15 million budget allocation to help build a Health Sciences Center for Excellence at ECC's North Campus, rather than the City Campus where it can tap into

Senior executives from National Grid and BNMC visited City Honors School to address and thank the students who took part in the National Grid Model Energy Home Challenge and to review all of the projects to obtain ideas and innovations to incorporate and utilize in the National Grid Model Energy Home in the coming months. The student projects and essays will be put on display by National Grid and the BNMC, with the potential for some of the student ideas to be implemented in the renovation project planned for Washington Street.

Last October, National Grid and the Buffalo Niagara Medical

Anyone who has walked by the Hotel Lafayette in recent weeks has been sure to notice the massive improvements being made on the exterior. New windows have been installed in the upper floors and the original windows of the first floor have been restored. Gone is the big blue wall and covered windows which once dominated the ground floor spaces. Beautiful, natural light now floods the ballrooms, which look astounding after months of hard work.

Rocco Termini is still very much on schedule for his official opening of

By Kayla Clark:
It was at track three ("Pulse") that I knew Patchwork Walls was going to be an album I'd be forced to leave on repeat for quite a while.  Singer/guitarist Nick Sessanna's strong delivery and singer/keyboardist Chrissy Krolewicz's lilting background presence meld together to create a rather desirable male/female vocal dynamic.  Patchwork Walls combines the band's established influences like Brand New and Arcade Fire with their own Western New York inspirations to create a unique, indie rock sound all their own.  Songs