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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you've ever attended the Elmwood Festival of the Arts (EAFA), then you know that the emphasis of the event is not just on the juried artists who sell their wares up and down the center of Elmwood Avenue. The art festival is a spectacular smorgasbord of delicious food, children's activities, theater, dancing and of course music. While other festivals have led to clashes between businesses, artists and musicians in the past, the Elmwood Festival of the Arts embraces the working dynamics between the different entities in a manner that helps the event to showcase a cohesive unity. Every summer

One of most interesting and important buildings in the Elmwood Village is up for sale. The building, 123 Bidwell Parkway, was built for CD Arnold in 1895.  Arnold was an important and well known early architectural photographer in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  He was known best for his work documenting the Pan American Expo in Buffalo and as photographer to architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee.  Silsbee, in turn,  was an important 19th century architect with

Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) has extended the deadline for the Joanne Champion Granger Scholarship; scholarship applications are now to be postmarked February 15th. 

The scholarship will be given to a college bound high school senior in Erie or Niagara County who, in addition to academic achievement, has demonstrated a commitment to human rights and/or equal opportunity in housing. The scholarship was created in 1995 by Dr. Carl Granger, to honor his late wife's courage, commitment, and inspiration to others. 

The

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