Recently in City Category

City February 3, 2012 5:12 PM
Echo Art Fair calls for ‘site-specific’ art proposals
As far as first year events go, echo Art Fair was a smashing success. Now, for the second year, art fair organizers will be highlighting an architecturally significant building by hosting artists of myriad mediums in a venue that is relatively new to the vast majority of Buffalonians. The object of the event is to shed a light on the structure while opening the eyes of Greater Buffalonians as they explore a world of art that might otherwise pass them by. 
The stage is being set to host this year's art fair inside The Larkin Center of Commerce (701 Seneca Street), and at this point the primary effort it to attract an awesome stable of artists and site-specific art proposals. Says echo Art Fair co-producer Frits Abell, "We are accepting ideas from artists and performers working in all creative disciplines. echo Art Fair will partner with these artists to add innovative elements to the fair. Partnership
City February 3, 2012 10:24 AM
ECHDC conducts survey about food, markets and restaurants in Greater Buffalo
The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC)  is looking for some input regarding what sort of food, markets and restaurants you would like to see at Canalside. Over the years there have been talks about public markets under The Skyway, and rumors of Dinosaur BBQ and Ted's Hot Dogs poking around. At this point we have seen a couple of food-related initiatives surface in the form of Liberty Hound (coming soon) and Clinton's Dish (hamburger stand). Liberty Hound is scheduled to open this spring, while Clinton's Dish proved to be the perfect addition this past summer.
As
City February 3, 2012 12:56 AM
Join ULI’s Young Leaders Group of WNY Celebrating Electric Tower’s 100th Year

Urban Land Institute's Young Leaders Group of Western New York (YLG) is hosting a 100 Year Anniversary presentation at the historic Electric Tower. The party is taking place on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Pre-registration and the presentation will be located across the street at newly renovated retail space at 5 East Huron Street.

The building is owned and operated by Iskalo Development Corporation and has worked tirelessly returning the downtown landmark to its original grandeur including

City February 3, 2012 12:10 AM
Construction Watch: Gates Vascular Institute

Exterior work is essentially complete on the $291 million Gates Vascular Institute located adjacent to Buffalo General Hospital on the Medical Campus.  The 10-story building will bring together Kaleida Health physicians and UB researchers in a collaborative effort to deliver state-of-the-art clinical care and produce major breakthroughs on the causes and treatment of vascular disease.  Cannon Design is project architect.

The building will house five floors of Kaleida Health's $173 million merger of its cardiac, stroke and vascular operations, plus a new and expanded emergency

City February 2, 2012 6:32 PM
Buffalo-style Garden Art Sale
Even though the Parkside Garden Tour is a long way off (Sunday, June 24, 10-6), preparation is underway to promote a Buffalo-style Garden Art Sale during that same weekend, with proceeds benefitting the National Garden Festival. The art sale will be held at the Parkside Lodge, and event organizers have begun to search for artists and craftspeople who have an interest in gardens, flowers, etc.
A recent press release stated that the intention is "... to solicit artists and vendors to participate. We're looking for original garden art in any medium, garden-related
Recent Photos[ BR Flickr ]
IMG_4975 IMG_4762 IMG_4567 IMG_4264
City February 2, 2012 4:43 PM
Buffalo Sports Fans: Unite!
By Kyle Gunn-Taylor:
Sports fans in Buffalo, NY now have a unified avenue to press their rights as fans of the Bills and Sabres.
The Sports Fan Coalition, the largest nonprofit fan advocacy group in the country has recently announced the creation of a Buffalo Chapter according to their website, SportsFans.org.
Spearheaded by former Buffalo Bills Media Relations staffer Matt Sabuda, the Buffalo Chapter's first order of business is to pressure the NFL's blackout issue
City February 2, 2012 11:58 AM
Buffalo Saturday Artisan Market at the Central Wharf
You may recall that last summer the Central Wharf was extremely close to landing an artists' market. Unfortunately there was just not enough time to pull off the initiative, and it was decided to shelve the plan until summer of 2012. As it stands now, the market has been fully approved and will commence this summer. Organizer Julie Leatherbarrow has been working behind the scenes to contact as many artists as possible, and feels that there has been a keen interest in the market. 
Although
City February 2, 2012 9:35 AM
Keeping Asian Carp Out of the Great Lakes - One Study at a Time
By Nate Drag:
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Asian Carp is a report released Tuesday by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes St Lawrence Cities Initiative describing three potential alternatives to creating a physical separation between the Mississippi River watershed and the Great Lakes watershed. The hope of this study, titled "Restoring the Natural Divide", is provide economically viable and ecological sound alternatives that will stop the flow of aquatic invasive species in both directions by physically separating the two watersheds
City February 1, 2012 11:05 PM
Freeways Without Futures
If you take a look at the top twelve Tear Down Prospects on Congress for New Urbanism's (CNU) website, you will notice that Route5/The Skyway is one of them. At one point I would have agreed. When CNU first took a hard look at Buffalo, it was around the time that the Waterfront Coalition was fighting the re-elevation of Route 5. That waterfront debacle was a prime candidate that did land on CNU's radar. Unfortunately the opportunity to reclaim Route 5 as a boulevard was lost (for now), and The Skyway
City February 1, 2012 3:15 PM
Seeking Contractor To ‘Buy’ Into 419 Porter
I twas back in 2007 when real estate investor Gian Franco Bertolino first purchased a beat up old house at 419 Porter Avenue. He picked up the property at the same time that he bought an apartment complex next door. At first, thinking that the house was too far gone, his inclination was to demo the structure to make way for parking. Fortunately, a year earlier, Steel had
City February 1, 2012 12:07 PM
Covering the Kensington Expressway
It's a dream of many of ours. To see that nasty expressway that cuts through the heart of our city, our community, our parks... repaired in a manner that will help to heal Buffalo's deep Robert Moses wounds. There will always be scars left behind, but we do have an opportunity to reverse some of the longterm damage done - or as Reclaiming Our Community Coalition (ROCC) puts it so well, "... to remediate the devastation and civic injustice caused by the construction of Route 33."
The coverage of the expressway is anticipated to run between Best Street and East Ferry.
City February 1, 2012 9:04 AM
My Favorite Buildings: LaSalle Apartments
A few months ago a reader asked if I would highlight a historic apartment building which sits at the west end of Chippewa. I said I would.  I have always admired the building and it fit in well with my "favorites" series in which I like to give some attention to great buildings that are off the radar of people's architectural awareness. THe problem was, I only had one photo of the building (that I could not find) and I had no information on it.  Then... Wooohoo!  In steps my FB friend with his slew of historic news paper clippings and a guess what?  A story on the LaSalle
City January 31, 2012 6:05 PM
Buffalo’s Original Sports’ Bubble
After writing a piece this past weekend on the need for an urban indoor athletics arena, a few BRO writers got to passing along this interesting, and very original photo (reference) of what has to be one of the more unusual structures ever assembled. And guess what? It was designed and implemented by Buffalo's very own Walter W. Bird of Birdair Structure Company. Featured on the front cover of Life Magazine in 1957, the
City January 31, 2012 3:03 PM
Best Accredited Online Colleges for Buffalo’s Top Industries
By John Larson:
Numerous studies have shown that many of the most successful, prosperous, and vibrant cities in America are also among the best-educated. While this correlation may not necessarily infer causation - after all, it is entirely likely that educated people are drawn to more vibrant cities - there is little doubt that a rising education level can only have a favorable impact on a municipality's future.
This fact can certainly be examined in light of our local situation. When we consider the revitalization of Buffalo, we
City January 31, 2012 12:53 PM
Small business hours can be hard on customers...
In a day and age, when more families have multiple incomes, it gets harder and harder to find time to eat and shop. When people do somehow manage to find the time, it can often be later in the day, or on Sundays. Seeing that the city of Buffalo is comprised of many owner-operated small shops, cafes and restaurants, it can sometimes be frustrating trying to support the homegrown operations. Many times people must resort to going to malls where it is mandatory for businesses to set regular long hours. Either that or shopping for goods online where the World Wide Web never closes. This from a BRO
City January 31, 2012 8:28 AM
Then and Now: Cinderella on Oxford Place
I was recently flipping through some images I took of the Oxford neighborhood.  The neighborhood takes its name from Oxford Place, which runs approximately through the middle of a roughly triangular area between Main Street, Forest Lawn, West Ferry, and Linwood Avenue.  As I viewed my pictures I kept coming back to this house located at 112 Oxford Place.  There was something odd about it.  I could not put my finger on what it was.  Certainly the front porch was quite unusual with its squat fat columns.  It had many interesting details but they did not pull together
City January 31, 2012 12:20 AM
Simple Solutions for Better Transit

By Nicholas Miller

I'd like to start out this post by saying that I've had very good experiences on the NFTA.  The buses were timely. I can check the schedule through Google Maps on my smartphone. The MetroRail is fast and actually goes to quite a few of the destinations I care about - UB South, the Darwin Martin House, Downtown, Allentown, and it's not too far of walk from much of Elmwood, if you're not in a rush.  There's also decent airport bus service.  However, there are some very simple things that the NFTA could do to improve their service.  Here are

City January 30, 2012 7:05 PM
Buffalo Greeters
By Bennett Collins:
In my experience I have found visiting cities that I have no personal connection with to be overwhelming. You can so easily pass by buildings, parks, and landmarks without thinking twice about them simply because time does not allow you to ponder and explore every place the city has to offer. How do you 'do' big cities like London and Chicago or comparatively smaller cities like Kent or Bilbao in a weekend or even in a week? In a recent trip to The Hague, Netherlands, a friend and I found way to overcome this sense of intimidation. Since
City January 30, 2012 2:06 PM
Music at the Marcy mixes it up.
As many of us are just starting to kick it into high gear, enjoying winter festivals, skiing and snowboarding (weather permitting), pond hockey tournaments, sledding at Shakespeare Hill, etc., a concert series is waiting in the wings at Delaware Park. For the third year in a row, Music at the Marcy is scheduled, but this year it's going to be slightly different. Per usual, there will be four bands playing on four consecutive Thursdays starting February 16th. While there will still be great music, food and drinks, this year Olmsted is upping the ante with some special guests in the form of
City January 30, 2012 10:30 AM
New Buffalo Arts and Technology Center Planned; Artspace Location Likely

The John R. Oishei Foundation, First Niagara Financial Group and Empire State Development Corporation are joining forces to establish the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center (BATC).  The BATC will potentially serve over 400 at-risk high school students and train 200 under employed or unemployed adults over three years.

The center, expected to be located at Artspace Buffalo, 1219 Main Street, is expected to debut late this year.  It will offer after-school visual

Buffalo Rising Poll