For those of you who can't make it to the weekly Common Council meeting, following is the edited briefing. We included the topics that relate to larger segments of the community. From this week's meeting as provided by the council, here is the summary:

The Council adopted a resolution sponsored by Council Members Joseph Golombek, Jr. and Michael Kearns calling for an amendment to the New York State Education Law that would allow the Buffalo School Board elections to coincide with the general elections held in November. Holding separate Buffalo School Board elections costs

TED (an acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design) has been producing thought-provoking conferences all over the world since the mid-80s. Always at the center of TED's events are changemakers, theorists, experts and innovators who speak to eager conference attendees. The vision of each conference is to set change and growth into motion through the sharing of information in perfectly-packaged 18-minute tidbits. Panel discussions, breakout groups and other old-school conference methods are abandoned, instead speakers are expected to inspire with simple and

-by Liz Evans, Chair, Board of Trustees Elmwood Village Charter School

 

I'd like a chance to respond to the one-sided piece of "news" that was published in Buffalo Rising early this morning.  That Sam Savarino would attempt to paint Elmwood Village Charter School in a negative light, while purportedly having an interest in our success as our landlord, is unconscionable.  EVCS has acted with nothing but prudence, honesty and transparency in this case and I'm very disappointed that Sam's attempt to acquire this property seems to have twisted his judgment.  EVCS

Soccer season and the World Cup is nearly upon us, but how many of you knew we have a new professional team right in our backyard? Which team you ask? That's a good question, because although the game of soccer has been faring quite well in the Queen City on the Lake, FC Buffalo is bringing professional minor league soccer to the forefront of Western New York.

I touched base with the club's assistant director of partnerships, Sean Lafferty, regarding the FC Buffalo team in order to spell out some of the league dynamics as well as what we can expect from the soccer club this season. "A

Aaron M. Renn is a urban policy analyst and consultant based in Chicago. His writings appear at his blog, The Urbanophile, and in other publications.  Buffalo Rising will be carrying Aaron's work on an occasional basis.

 

What does it take in a city to bring about change? I believe that one key prerequisite for change is a critical mass of outsiders; that is, a large enough of group of people who moved there without a background or personal connection to a place. Why?

Outsiders are willing to imagine

Two elementary charter schools are fighting over the closed School #36 on Days Park.  The Elmwood Village Charter School (EVCS) signed a purchase agreement with the City for the vacant property in February.  Not so fast says the West Buffalo Charter School (WBCS), a startup school that also wants the site.  Caught in the middle is developer Sam Savarino who is EVCS's current landlord on Elmwood Avenue while also working with WBCS to find a home. 
 
Savarino, in court documents, says his offer for the school was not only ignored, but was higher than

Post and photos by Joe Cascio:

Monday night Pearl Jam stormed into HSBC Arena in support of their most recent release "Severed Hand".  The crowd was filled with young and old as it was easy to see who had followed the guys from Seattle from the onset back in 1991 and those who have a newfound appreciation for some hard driving rock and roll.  The 26 song set included the new, the old and a cover by Neil Young called "F___kin Up".

Eddie came out looking much more like Eddie Vedder, longer hair and a beard, than the clean shaven, short haired Eddie who

It's good to see a few facade improvements being conducted on Elmwood at this point in time. There's Blue Monk, Acropolis, and of course the Coffee Culture building being erected at the corner of Bryant. Apparently some of these build-outs are not going forward as smoothly as building owners would have liked, due to hold-ups at Planning Board. I'm not blaming Planning Board for the time delays, but I am wondering if there is a miscommunication when it comes to the planning process and the building process.

Paul Tsouflidis, owner of Acropolis, called me yesterday and was quite irate that

When the crew at EB Iron Art heard that President Obama was coming to Buffalo for a visit, they decided to create a one-of-a-kind token to mark the occasion. The thought was, that if the token, or gift, was impressive enough, the president might just find some space somewhere to hang it. It was decided that the group would get to work on creating the Presidential seal in order to commemorate the visit, and just last night the final touch-ups were added to the work of steel.

In just a matter of minutes, Ed Hogle, owner of EB Iron Art and Atlas Steel,

In just 26 days, the entire City will enjoy one of the most creative, interesting, dynamic - and downright fun - events of the year.  The Albright-Knox's Art Alive is a community-based activity in which schools, colleges, individuals - in fact, any and all loyal art fans - are invited to create living representations of their favorite works of art and compete for cash prizes.  Each year, Art Alive attracts dozens of contestants and hundreds of spectators, who all gather to learn about art and enjoy the fun. 
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After working in the photography field for ten years in Rochester, Pittsburgh and now Buffalo, Melissa Parrish is moving her photo studio out of her Richmond Avenue house and into a storefront in The Granite Works.  Lovely Day Photo (LDP) is expected to open in mid-July and will join Just Vino and Bloom Floristry in the historic Main Street mixed-use complex. 

Buffalo is a city full of great architecture.  I've taken thousands of pictures in recent years of downtown and the waterfront, striking vistas, industrial ruins, stately mansions, beautiful churches, working class neighborhoods and everything in between.  Most of us are familiar with our architectural landmarks, but do we really pay attention to the detail found on the buildings we oftentimes take for granted?  It's the mosaic of the good, the bad and the ugly that make up Buffalo's cityscape.

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If you've ever thought about playing croquet at Delaware Park, but for whatever reason have not quite gotten around to it, The Olmsted Conservancy and the Buffalo Croquet Club are hosting an open house to get people out playing the game. Buffalo has a long history when it comes to the games of croquet and lawn bowling, and The Parkside Lodge is 'living' proof of the games' past popularity.

Only in recent years has croquet been making a comeback, thanks to the restored lawn bowling fields and clubhouse. There's even a great

Oakland Place is one of Buffalo's most beautiful streets.  It's home to many architectural treasures including the controversial residence of Bishop Kmiec.  Oh, and JP Losman lived there. Now here is your chance to own a piece of historic Oakland Place with a new listing of a beautiful 5 bedroom Victorian for $899,000. 

The house, built in 1910, is 5,767 square feet and contains 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 1 half bath, and a swimming pool.

Last Friday, Newell and I sat with WBFO's Mark Scott for Buffalo Rising's weekly Round Table.  There was a lot to talk about Obama's upcoming visit and the Farmers Market opening. But, Brad Wales of UB's Small Built Works made the grade yet again with the recent addition of the handcrafted benches to 18th Street Community Park.
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Cincinnati's Union Terminal and the Buffalo Central Terminal are alike in many ways.  Each is located some distance from their respective central business districts, they're both mammoth complexes that handled about 200 trains per day, and both were designed by New York architects Alfred Fellheimer and Stewart Wagner.  Cincinnati's station has been repurposed however and is now a focus of that city's cultural universe.

Cincinnati's Union Terminal was dedicated

Buffalo is a city full of great architecture.  I've taken thousands of pictures in recent years of downtown and the waterfront, striking vistas, industrial ruins, stately mansions, beautiful churches, working class neighborhoods and everything in between.  Most of us are familiar with our architectural landmarks, but do we really pay attention to the detail found on the buildings we oftentimes take for granted?  It's the mosaic of the good, the bad and the ugly that make up Buffalo's cityscape. 

Each week I'll put up a photo from the city- some hard, others easy-

It's not often that you hear that The Benjaman Gallery is hosting an art exhibit. That's why I felt that I should help to get the word out regarding an unexpected show coming to the venue. The upcoming show is also partially due to one of the gallery's new directors, Emily Johnson, who recently moved back to Buffalo from Manhattan. It was while living in Manhattan that Johnson began acquiring pieces of work by acclaimed artist Irene Zevon who lived at the Chelsea Hotel for 50 years.

The modernist painter's works can be found in the permanent collections of major galleries throughout

If you're into cycling, or maybe you've thought long and hard that it's time to get a bike, then here are some fun bike news flashes that might interest you. These days you hear about people blessing a lot of things... dogs, beer, etc. Until now I never heard of anyone blessing bikes, which is something that they are doing over at Lafayette Presbyterian Church. Reverend Drew is even allowing cyclists to bring their bikes and gear into the church in order for them to be blessed (Sunday, May 16 at 12:30pm). If you think about it, blessing a bike is probably

It's not often that I find myself listening to 91.3 WBNY at 6am in the morning on a Sunday. That was the case a couple of months ago when I tuned into Tom Connolly's radio show called The Grain Elevator Express. At that time in the morning, there's not much that would have appealed to me, regardless of the sound, but I did suddenly find myself turning the volume up on the dial. It was a sound that I had not heard before, which surprised me because I am an avid listener to WBNY. The voice I was listening to was ethereal - the music was light with an almost otherworldly sound to it. I found myself